Another way to die
by dustyrose03
Summary: Bella is nearing 16,the Princess of Italy. Edward is 17,the brother of the Mafia bosses; and Edward has wanted nothing more than to be exactly like them. So when Bella runs away from the life she never wanted, Edward is ordered to kidnap her... AH
1. Should I?

**Another way to die**

**Bella is 15 and a half, not to mention the Princess of Italy. Edward is 17, the brother of the Mafia bosses; and Edward has wanted nothing more than to join them. But when Bella runs away from the life she never wanted, Edward is ordered to kidnap her and hold her ransom. But when Edward and Bella begin to fall in love who will Edward choose; the work he has always dreamed of, or the girl he loves... AH!**

**Song that inspired this: Alicia Keys and Jack white – Another way to die.**

**----~~~~----**

**Bella's POV**

Four words that describe me...I hate my life.

I hate the destiny that waits outside my bedroom door, I hate my father for bringing me into this world and I also hate the fact that I have no choice.

Most girls my age would die to be a princess. But not me, instead I would die to be a normal teenager.

Balls...riches...dress...money... This all meant nothing to me, I just wanted to be normal and have a boyfriend, go to school, proper parties... Unfortunately for me though, I couldn't have any of this, because of course I had my 'duty' to attend too.

But the worst thing was that no one could even tell unhappy I was. Maybe they didn't care enough about me to notice? That was probably it then. So you're thinking, what about your parents? Only, I hardly ever see my father, he is always on business trips, conferences and negotiations. And I never knew my mother, she bailed out when she gave birth to me, she couldn't handle all of the pressure of being royalty, I guess that I had inherited that from he

So was younger, I was just left with whichever nanny my Father had hired for me at the time. Though, they never lasted long, apparently I was a difficult child. My Father always shouted at me when they quit, but then after a few years he just gave up and let me be, it was obvious that I was never going to learn.

So that left me here then, unhappy and stuck in the middle of a palace in Italy, with numerous guards and servants roaming around. Right this minute, I was getting ready for a ball that was about to start, and as usual I was late.

"Isabella, I assure you, you look fine, in fact you look beautiful," my maid Angela was trying to convince me. Looking in the long mirror, I twisted to the side and sighed. Who was I kidding? I was never going to be the pretty princess that you read about in story books. Instead, I was plain with medium length brown hair and chocolate eyes, the only thing I actually liked, was my pale flawless skin.

A bell rang in the corner of my room, signalling that my Father wanted me downstairs immediately. I suppressed and frown and forced a smile on my face.

"I better go..." I said and Angela laughed.

"Good luck!" she called after my retreating back and I smile a little to know that someone cared about me, even if it was just a little.

If I had a best friend, it would be Angela. She was the reason that I kept sane, I always told her about my worries, and she would always willingly listen to me with sympathy.

I had even told her my darkest secret, one that I was even sure if I could go through with yet, but she sympathised with me, and all but kicked me out herself. I know that sounds pretty strange of me to say, but if you knew Angela, you would know why, she was only thinking the best for me.

I turned the corner at the edge of the hallway to be met with a servant.

"Isabella," he panted, he had been running. "Your Father is furious you are almost an hour late...he wants you to meet someone."

"I'm on my way," I said impatiently and pushed passed him and proceeded down the stairs. I knew I was being rude, but I had dreaded this day for _weeks_, and I was going to make it as short as I possibly could.

I entered the ball room, to be met with chatter and laughter, while sweet music was playing in the background.

I had only taken a few steps into the room, when I was steered to the left by my Father. "Isabella!"He said, sounding delighted, the confrontation will be later then, I decided. "I have been looking for you everywhere, and I would like you to meet someone!"

By now we were standing in front of a tall man, whose skin was a mix of what looked like copper, but also lighter than you would expect, he was probably from two races then. The tall man had a brooding expression on his face as he looked me up and down once, satisfied with what he saw, he smiled.

"This is Akil Fadil, he is the third oldest, and one of the Princes of Egypt, he is here as a representative of his family and will be staying here for a few days. Akil this is my only daughter Isabella," my father introduced us. _Oh great, he is match making again_, I desperately thought to myself.

Smiling a little Akil took my hand and kissed it, "It is a pleasure to meet you Isabella," he murmured against my skin. His accent took me by surprise, it was Italian, but with a hint of American somewhere behind the roots.

"The pleasure is all mine," I said with a curtsy. I may be in a bad mood but I still knew how to be polite. My Father walked away, muttering something about speaking to the Duchess of France, I stared urgently after his retreating form, but he didn't turn around. Half rolling my eyes so that Akil couldn't see, I turned back to him, as he began to engage me in talk.

"So Isabella, how old are you then?" I frowned this was a strange question.

"I'm fifteen... What about you?"

Akil smiled, as though he was in on some private joke, "I don't like to tell people about myself."

_Oh how nice,_ I thought as I stared at him, trying to figure him out. Nothing seemed to fit, his skin colour (which looked the shade that Native Americans usually have), or the accent Italian American, also he didn't look very Egyptian either, it just didn't make sense.

"Would you like to dance?" He held out his hand, and hesitantly I took it, unsure, because I couldn't dance very well.

But thankfully Akil wasn't either, he danced like someone who wasn't use to all of this, the opposite of me, who was used to it, but just couldn't dance well.

After the song was over, I gave Akil a small smile and walked away as fast as I could without drawing attention to myself. I grabbed a glass of wine of servants tray as he walked passed, and I stood at the edge of the room, watching the dancers, but also concealing myself, so that my Father won't find me and scold for not mingling with the guests.

From across the room, I felt someone's eyes on me and I looked up to see Akil staring at me. I repressed a sigh, looks like this one is going to be hard to get rid of. I saw Akil's mouth moving slightly as though he was talking to someone close to him, but nobody was standing near enough to him to have a conversation, but then after a moment's inspection, I saw that his hand was next to his ear, holding a small boxed object. Ah...that explained it then, he was on the phone.

"Isabella," I heard someone call my name from behind me, I groaned and turned around to find my Father glaring at me and his arms crossed across his chest. I had subconsciously begun to walk across the dance floor towards Akil, and I was surprised that nobody had knocked into me yet.

"Why are you not talking to anyone? I have been watching you for the last ten minutes and you have just been staring off into space," my father said softly to me, so that this talk wouldn't be heard by passers-by, but his voice also held a hint of intimidation.

"I don't want to be here, and you fully well know that," I hissed back at him.

"It is your duty to be here, it was what you were born for, now go mingle!" he retorted.

"No, I don't take orders from anyone anymore," I said, speaking loudly so people could hear me.

My Father grabbed my elbow and towed me to a corner, "Fine go to bed then, I don't want to see your face for the rest of the week. I'm ashamed of you," and with that he walked away.

Frustrated now, I headed out the doors, towards my chamber. I turned around once, to find Akil, staring at me again, but this time with a twisted smile of his face.

Mashing my lips together, I went upstairs to my room and went to bed sobbing into my pillow.

----~~~~----

I awoke with a start, my room was pitch black and the faint music that had come from downstairs from earlier had ceased, making the night seem more eerie.

I couldn't keep going on like his, I couldn't keep up pretences, while deep down I was miserable. Didn't God want his creations to be happy?

I looked over at my alarm clock, which read 3 o'clock in the morning. I sat up in my bed and ran my hands through my hair; I had no other choice now really. I could keep going through life like how I was now, or I could actually go through with my plan and run away to America.

I could do it right now... and nobody would know until the morning, and by that time I would successfully be in the air to America.

I got out of bed, wincing, when the floorboards creaked, but no one would be around this time in the morning so what was I afraid of? I turned on my bedside lamp and walked over to my wardrobe, where I got dresses in a pair of dark wash skinny jeans, a t-shirt and threw a dark purple hoodie over it all. Not the attire you would expect a princess to wear, but still.

Next, I took out a black rucksack from under my bed which I had never used before, and stuffed as many clothes, toiletries, and another pair of shoes, as I could. I grabbed my passport and my purse which was stuffed with money and prepared to set off.

I stood with my hand on the door handle, deliberating whether I should at least leave a note for my Father, saying that I was safe and hadn't been kidnapped. But at the last moment, I thought better against it.

I opened the door and stepped onto the red carpet, which coated the hallway. It was dark, so I could only see a few feet in front of me, but so far, I couldn't see or hear anybody. So far, so good.

Walking down the main stairs and into the lobby, I had met no one yet. I guess that the servants didn't get up this early, not that I would know anyway.

My sneakers squeaked as I walked across the shiny flooring, being self conscious as I was, I glanced behind me every few steps, to ensure that no one was following me.

But just as I was about to open the main wooden doors, the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and I felt eyes on my back. I jumped, and turned around, ready to bolt it down the driveway, or come up with some pathetic excuse like ' Oh, I was just going for a walk in the gardens with my backpack on.'

To my relief though, no body stepped out of the shadows, if there was even someone there.

I twisted the brass doorknob and the door opened with a creek, I pulled it open slowly as if it would somehow make the noise less loud, but usually that makes it worse, so in the end I just pulled it open and it made the loudest noise I ever thought a door could make. For a minute or so, I stood in the open doorway, but heart beating, wondering if anybody would come and investigate.

Silence.

Sighing, I stepped out in cold night air, cold enough, that it felt like a slap in the face. The imaginary eyes, stayed on my back as I ran down the front steps, careful to keep to the shadows, so as to keep out of sight of the security cameras positioned on all of the walls. When the wall behind my back ended, I prepared to run for it across the front lawn to the bushes where my secret gate was hidden.

When I was younger, I always wondered what life outside the palace walls would be like, so I made a gap in the fencing that surrounds the Palace ground perimeter. I had never gotten round to use it though, too scared that I would be caught. I was older now, and more smart than my five year old being, so I wasn't as terrified off what would happen if I was discovered.

One...Two...Three... Go! And with my countdown, I sprinted as fast as I could across the black stretch of grass towards the bushes, hoping that the gate was still there, I crouched down in the bushes and began trailing my hands across the fencing looking for the gap.

Yes! My hand fell through the wood and I felt the blanket of ivy that coated the outside wall, which hid the gap from outsiders. I pushed the ivy apart and stuck my head out onto the street, nobody was awake at this hour, and hence the empty roads and I grabbed my bag and climbed through.

I stood up and began jogging down the pavement in the general direction of the airport, reminiscing in my newly found freedom.


	2. Stage one

**Edward's POV**

Most brothers don't get along, so I know that this will sound kind of weird, but I _idolise_ mine.

My brothers aren't normal though, they are the Mafia bosses. Generations of men from my family have been in the Mafia, getting involved with business and ...less pleasant things... but unfortunately, my father died two years ago and since then my oldest brother Jared has taken his place.

They can be very intimidating at times, but I want to join their ranks, just like every other male descendant, I want my name to be put into the history books and to have everyone know who I was and what I am capable of doing. Just thinking that if I could somehow manage this, gave me a shudder of excitement.

Everyone knows this of course, but I am just the annoying little brother to them, nothing else... a pest that won't go away. I only turned 17 last week, which means that I am the youngest out of my family. My brothers are a few years older than me, with Emmett, at 21, Jasper, at 20, Sam, at 23 and Jared, the oldest, at 25. Basically, you don't mess with them... or you end up dead.

But after months of begging, I had finally convinced them to let me prove my loyalty and send me to do some work. And that was where I was headed now, to the briefing. Walking passed the white walls, I fantasised about what would happen if I successfully completed this 'job', I would be trusted to do much more important things. I entered the room where the briefing was being held, only to find that everybody was already seated.

"You're late," Jared said, not sounding at all pleased.

"Sorry," I mumbled, and took a seat next to Jasper, who was frowning and staring at Jared, as though he was about to receive some grave news.

"Right, seeing as Edward has finally decided to grace ourselves with his presence-" I looked down guiltily at the floor, as he continued to speak. "-I have managed to get Sam inside the palace walls for a few days at the least," he paused for a moment, letting the information sink in, then he carried on. "As it will most likely come out in the press in a week or so, we have killed Akil Fadil, who, as you all know, is third in line for the Egyptian throne." I stared around the room processing everyone's faces, none of them had changed, and it was like this information was something that they all received daily.

"Successfully, I have managed to place Sam inside the castle, imposting Akil. Another source inside the castle, has informed us that Isabella, isn't exactly happy with her life. According to our insider, Isabella is planning to run away, and we are hoping that this will be within the next few days, because it will be easier to take her then."

"What if she doesn't run away?" I asked Jared, receiving a glare from him, for daring to interrupt, Jared answered my question.

"That is where Sam comes in. First of all Sam is going to try and grow tension between Isabella and her Father, if all is successful, Isabella will run away... But in the event that that doesn't happen, Sam will take her from _within _the palace walls, which of course we don't want to happen, as it will prove more difficult to get her out."

Jared turned his attention to Jasper, "I want you to provide some kind of sedative that will keep Isabella knocked out for at least ten hours," Jasper nodded, then exited the room.

Next, all attention was drawn onto Emmett, "I want you to arrange transport that will be on standby, ready to use when the operation has begun," like Jasper, Emmett nodded, and walked out of the door.

Jared, barked out more orders to various people, but I wasn't listening, instead I was staring off into space, thinking about what I was about to do. The girl (I refused to think of her as a proper person), was a year and a half younger than me, and we were planning to ruin her life. She didn't know what was about to come, and I doubted that at the end of everything, she would come out alive, she had family and people who cared about her, but soon she wouldn't.

"Edward, Edward!" Jared's tone brought me out of my daydream.

"I'm sorry...what?"

"I said, you have the important part in this," my stomach fell to the ground; I didn't want to have much to do with kidnapping and torturing a young girl, it felt wrong. "Not having second thoughts, are you Edward?" Smirking, Jared crossed his arms and raised his eyebrows at me, hoping that I would pull out, but I was too proud to do something like that.

"No, what do you want me to do?"

Jared explained in detail, what my job was. I listened carefully, nodding my head in all the right places, processing the information in my brain.

"Are you sure about this? It isn't too late to back out," Jared said, the words sounding like he actually cared about his younger brother, but the way he said it implied that he would rather I had nothing to do with this, in case I fucked up.

"Yeah," and with a growl, Jared left the room.

Putting my head into my hands, I groaned. I can't believe that I had actually agreed to do this, what if I got caught and arrested... or even worse, put to the death penalty, for crimes against the state?

_No,_ a voice inside my head ordered, _Edward, be a man, put away your fears, and fight to become important. _

Knowing that the voice inside my head was right, I pushed all my doubts away and concentrated on becoming ruthless and emotionless.

Believe me; it isn't as easy as it sounds.

**----~~~~----**

Eight hours later, I was standing in a dark side-alley, freezing my ass off. _I should never have agreed to this_, I thought to myself as I jumped up and down, rubbing my arms, to stop myself from freezing to death.

Only about forty-five minutes ago, Jared had gotten a call from Sam, saying that the girl was leaving. Giving a result of people rushing around, getting prepared, transport sorted, and sedatives in hand, and Jared shouting at anyone who wasn't running around at least 100mph.

I was told to wait down here, in an attempt to catch her if she tries to escape. Which was pretty unlikely, as Jared had people spread out all around this area, including the airport, but according to Jared, this was the route she would most likely take, as it was the quickest?

Glancing at my watch, I noted that the time was just coming to half past 3 in the morning, I could already feel my eyes dropping, due to the fact that I hadn't slept in almost 24 hours, I hoped that this wouldn't take very long.

Jared had told me to wait for the signal, but what the fuck was 'the signal'? He had never told me, and if I didn't know what it was, how the hell was I supposed to wait for it?

Only seconds later, I stole another look at my watch. _Right, if she doesn't come within the next five minutes, I'm just going to call it a night and go back to base and get some sleep_, I decided and carefully counted down the minutes, until I would let myself return home.

_30 seconds..._

_1 minute 20..._

_2 minutes..._

_3 minutes 33_

_4 minutes 50...51...52...53..._

_Five minutes._

_Great, now I can go back, _I thought to myself exhaustingly, making my way to the mouth of the alley, but I had not taken three steps, when I heard the sound of car tires, screeching against the concrete.

I froze in place, was this 'the signal' that I was supposed to wait for? I dithered for a second, unsure what to do, when a feminine figure ran into the alleyway, not noticing me because I was hidden under the nights cloak.

With a smile, I stepped forward.

Step one had begun.

**Bella's POV**

I was a few blocks from the airport, when I heard footsteps pursuing mine. Panicking and still running, I turned my head and saw the outline of a tall man. I couldn't tell from this distance, if he was friend or foe, but just to be safe, I picked up my pace.

The man's footsteps also increased, making up for the growing distance between us. He must be an enemy then, if it was someone I knew, or someone from the guard, they would have called out my name by now, telling me to stop.

My heartbeat increased, as did my footsteps. Panic and fear was now flowing through my bloodstream, producing adrenaline, which was the only reason I managed to keep going. My breathing became more laboured, as I struggled to find enough oxygen in the air to keep me standing upright, my lungs felt like they were going to burst out of my ribcage, and to top it all off, the muscles in my legs were screaming in protest and threatening to collapse any moment now.

I concentrated on my surroundings, trying to work out if there was a faster way to get to my destination, I knew that this man was going to catch up to me eventually, and I would rather it be in a public place, where I could cause a scene if I needed too.

No... If I cause a scene, most likely the police will find out and trace me to where I was going; even catching a flight would be risky, thinking about it. Why didn't I think of any of this earlier? when I had been conducting my crap idea.

There were about ten meters between me and the man now, and as much as I tried to push my legs any further, I could feel that they were doing the opposite and slowing down.

_Please not now,_ I thought desperately to myself, _come on I can do this, not far..._

Tears began pouring down my face, as I accepted the fact that I wasn't going to escape, and I was on the verge of giving up, when I heard car tires screech against the road behind me, as it turned a corner too fast.

No... Not a car as well.

I spotted an alleyway and I ran into it, hoping that it would somehow magically evade my pursuers for me.

The alley was completely black; I could barely see anything, but heavy breathing, coming from where I had just entered, alerted me to the fact that my chaser had also entered the alley. A second later, the car came to a halt on the road, blocking that way of escape. Now terrified, I took some steps back, my eyes wide, as I felt a scream building up in my dry throat. A few more steps later, I hit something hard, and almost immediately an arm snaked around my waist, clamping me to the man's chest and just as I was about to scream, a hand was secured over my mouth muffling my cries.

I squirmed, trying to find a way out, as the two people stalked ever closer towards me, and in one last moment of panic, I lifted up my knee and brought it backwards, kicking my capturer in the balls.

With a grunt and a moan, he let go of me and fell to the ground with a soft thud. I jumped over his body and began to run the other way, but I had not gotten two steps, when a hand grabbed my ankle, pulling me down to the floor, whacking my head against the brick wall on the way.

Before I had the chance to get up, I was flipped over and someone straddled me, pinning me down.

"Edward, the cloth," a gruff voice came from above me.

"Here," said the boy called Edward, whose voice sounding strained; he must have been the person I had kicked then.

"No, no, please..."I begged, but was met with a hard slap around the face.

I struggled underneath the man and attempted to hit him, but another pair of hands grabbed my wrists, pinning them above my head, out of the way.

"HELP!" I screamed, hoping that someone would hear, but soon my screams were muffled by a cloth being stuffed in my face and my mouth.

It smelt sweet and sickly, almost immediately, I felt drowsy and weak. My muscles relaxed and my eyelids dropped. I heard and sigh and the pressure being taken off my body, I tried to open my mouth in one last attempt to scream, but before I could, the lethargy overcame me and I fell into the dark abyss that awaited me.


	3. On camera

**Remember that I am still re-writing the chapters, so things will still be out of sync until I have finished.**

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****Bella's POV**

Through the darkness I could hear distant voices.

"Do you think that she is ever going to wake up?" one person asked.

"I bloody well hope so, I want to get this over and done with," said a second person, both of them were males.

I recognised neither of those voices, as I struggled to remember what happened. I played back through yesterday, Angela...Father...Ball...Akil...argument...running away..._kidnapped. _My senses slowly came back to me, my muscles feeling cramped from lying down on this lumpy mattress, for God knows how long.

Mattress, oh no, how long was I out for?

The voices were clearer, now that I was trying concentrate on what they were saying. "Are we going to move her?" said the first voice again.

"I'd rather not, it is more convenient to keep her in Volterra, it will make transmitting everything quicker, and easier to set up." I am still in Volterra? My heart leapt, I wasn't in some foreign country after all, instead I was in my home town.

Suddenly, I became aware of a pounding at the back of my head, it rivalled with that of a migraine. Bringing my hands to my head, I moaned pushing my head between my hands, as though it would make the pain go away.

Blinking a few times, I opened my eyes, only to shut them again, as the bright light made the headache worse. However, when I opened them about ten seconds later, a face was peering over me.

Screaming, I tried to push this person away, but the man only clamped his hand over my mouth.

"Shut up," he growled, his eyes looking menacing. "It has been a long night for everyone, without you screaming the place down and waking everyone up."

As though a switch has turned inside of me, I shut up. Maybe it was the edge in this man's voice, or the way he held his expression, but whatever it was, it was enough to make me scared. But, on a closer inspection he didn't look old enough to be a man, he looked on the verge of manhood, eighteen, perhaps.

He sighed and got off of me, then turned his attention to another man, who was standing in the corner of the room, holding a video camera. His skin was a coppery colour, but it looked like he was a mix of two races, he looked nearly identical to Akil.

"Right, let's get started then," he grumbled, the boy grabbed my elbow, pulling me up from the bed and tugged me out of the door.

"Let go!" I demanded, finally finding my voice, even if it was small and weak. The boy's grip never faltered, if anything, he held tighter.

The Akil look at like, was walking in front of us, checking the video camera and I felt a sinking feeling at the bottom of my stomach as I realised what they were about to do.

"Do you have any idea who I am?" I hissed, trying, and failing, to somehow threaten them. "You have no right to handle me this way, once my Father finds out..." My voice trailed off as the man stopped and turned around to glare at me.

Before I walked right into him, the person who had my arm in his grasp, stopped before me and pulled me back.

The man glared at me, his mouth twisting in some kind of demented smile, and suddenly, my arm was ripped away and the man smashed the side of my head against the wall. I heard a crack, as my head hit a nail and felt the flow of blood trickling from my new wound.

"Easy Jared," the boy warned.

Jared clutched my hair, brought my head back, and then banged my head against the wall again.

"Shut it Edward." Oh, he was the boy I kicked in the balls then.

Edward stayed silent, watching as Jared whispered in my ear. "I God damn well know you are princess-" his voice drawled in my ear. "- I've had you monitored these last few months, and probably know you better than you even know yourself."

"I suggest one more time, that you let go off me," I replied calmly.

"And what are you going to do about it?" his tone began to mock me.

"This," and with that, I kicked out, and hit the position that I wanted. Like Edward did, he groaned and collapsed to the floor, holding the area between his legs. Like a bolt of lightning, I jumped over him and made for some random door that was situated at the end of the corridor.

"Don't even think about it," a voice called, and a second later two strong arms wrapped around my waist, pulling me back.

"Get your hands off of me!" I shouted, wriggling in Edward's arms, in attempts for him to drop me, but he was stronger than me, resulting in-nothing.

Painfully, Jared got up off of the floor, grimacing as he moved his legs to walk up to me. "Try anything like that Princess and I will personally make sure that you don't get out of this alive," he spat in my face and walked into a nearby doorway.

Against my protests and cries, I was hauled into the room by Edward. When the door was locked and secured, Jared pushed me into a wooden chair that was placed in the centre of the room in front of a white sheet.

About five, maybe ten, metres away, there was a camera stand in which Jared placed the video camera on top of it, then turned it on.

I felt sick, I knew exactly what they were about to do, but the only question left was... Who were they?

Were they some kind of gang? Or a government branched organisation... but that one didn't make sense, shouldn't the government be protecting me, not plotting against the throne. I knew nothing about how these people work; you would have thought that I would have been told the dangers, but apparently not. I could only assume that my Father always thought I would be safe, so there was no need to be told about them.

As my mind was going through all of these possibilities, I hadn't noticed that Jared was standing in front of me.

Kneeling down so that he was face to face with me, he held out his hand, and softly – like a lover would- he caressed my cheek gently. I turned my head away, and then he grabbed my face with one hand, and turned it so I was staring into my eyes.

"Listen here Princess, do what I say, and the chances of survival will increase. If you don't, well..." he trailed off, and with a dark smile, he walked away and stood behind the camera. "Now, Isabella, we all know how this works. You tell your Father how bad we are treating you, he gives into his demands and you go home... yada yada yada... So how about you be a good girl, and tell him all about this?"

Damn right I will, I'll tell him everything I know so far. Jared switched the camera on, and waved a hand telling me to proceed.

I felt stupid sitting her, what was I supposed to say? That I was scared? Because that would be an understatement, I wasn't scared, I was..._terrified. _I had no idea what this was all for, if I would ever see my family again...

But wasn't this what I wanted? Some kind of adventure; spicing up my pathetic boring life. Well I sure got it, thanks a lot God.

Sighing impatiently, Jared tapped his foot against the hard floor. "I haven't got all day you know," he growled.

Without a warning, tears fell down my face, splashing on my jeans, leaving small dark, wet marks on them. "Dad... I'm so sorry that I got both you and I into this mess, believe me I wasn't thinking when I tried to run away, how did I know that these people were going to abduct me?" Now that I had started, the words were just spilling out of my mouth. "But I beg of you Father... please...just please-"

In my peripheral vision, I could see Jared looking quite pleased with him; this must be the part he was looking forward too. Where I asked my Father to meet the demands. Well, he was going to be surprised alright, I thought to myself, as I opened my mouth to say the words with surely would get me a slap around the head.

"_- _whatever happens to me, _don't _give into their demands! I have no idea who these people are, or what they want, but I can tell you this, I am still in Volterra and two of my capturers names are Edward and Jared -"

Shutting the camera off, Jared then lunged across the room at me, then punched me square in the face. The impact alone, was enough to make me fall off of the chair, not to mention the pain. Next, clamping his fists in balls around my shirt. "That was a live broadcast, you little _bitch._ Around here, you do what I tell you to do. Got that?"

"I don't take orders from anybody," I hissed in his face, resisting the urge to spit in his face.

Growling, Jared replied, trying to keep his tone as even as possible. "Because I am in a forgiving mood today, I'll give you one last chance. Get it right this time," and shoving me backwards onto this floor, he walked back towards the camera.

I got up, wincing slightly, I was sure to have bruises in a few hours, and to top it all off, my nose was bleeding, along with my head. Gingerly, I sat on the chair and faced the camera, once again, undecided on what I should say.

Should I play the obedient prisoner? or should I push my limits, and see how many times I could manage to infuriate them.

"Off you go then."

"Father, please. I know I haven't been exactly...nice, lately, but don't listen to them. I promise that I will be okay, and just remember I love you." Tears were pouring down my face, and Jared switched off the camera yet again, and stormed over to me.

"Easy Jared," Edward warned from behind me.

"I have already had _enough _of your little games, now you face the consequences. Hopefully it will teach you a lesson." And before I had a chance to protect myself, or at least reply. Jared swung his fist in my direction, and with a smack, it made contact with my skull.

I fell to the floor, resulting with my head being whacked against the floor as well. With all the blows to the head I had taken lately, they were all beginning to take its toll. My vision became blurred and hazy, whilst the pain in my head was just making it worse. Blood was pouring down my neck, flowing as though it was a river. Through the fog, I could make out a small video camera staring down at me; also I could see Jared smiling as if he was enjoying my pain.

"Calm down, she is just a girl," Edward said, sounding as though he was attempting to make Jared steady down a little.

Jared began to reply, but then I fell into unconsciousness.


	4. Jobs

**Edward's POV**

I watched as the girl fell limp on the tiled floor, her breathing becoming slower and longer, as she fell into a sleep.

"What are we going to do with her?" I asked, looking at Jared, who was now leaving the room, as though he couldn't care less.

Turning back to me, Jared shrugged. "Do whatever you want with her, she isn't my problem."

"This is not my job! You patch her up, she is your priority!" I exploded, already fed up of doing the less pleasant tasks, just because none of my brothers could be bothered to do them.

Jared laughed, "Edward...If you want a place with us, you have to earn it." And laughing, he walked out of the door.

Fuming, I turned around and studied the girl on the floor, wondering what I should do with her. She was sprawled on the floor in what looked like a very uncomfortable position; blood was still flowing out of her head, but not as heavily as before.

Well I guess that would be my first task, stop the bleeding. I bent down and examined her head wound, and upon gently prodding it I found that it wasn't very deep which would make my work even easier. I had had a little medical training, thanks to Carlisle who has acted as a Father figure to me since my Father...passed away. Passed away wasn't the right word. Assassinated was more of the correct term to what had happened. Even though he wasn't the greatest person in the world, he was still there for my brothers and I. Jared was still trying to track down this assassin so that he could have his revenge.

Shaking my head, I returned my attention back the girl. After a moment's deliberation on whether I should take her to Carlisle, or just do it myself, I lifted her up in my arms, stumbling a little under the new amount of weight. She wasn't heavy, but she wasn't very light either. P_robably about the average weight for a woman,_ I decided as I walked down the corridor, n_ot that I had much experience of carrying girls around in my arms,_ I added to myself mentally.

Walking into her room, I lay her down on the small cot in the corner, and then walked back out of the door, only just remembering to lock it in case she woke up while I was away and _attempted_ to escape. Note that I used the word attempted, I somehow doubted that she would even manage to take two steps before she was caught. And sure enough as I was walking towards the medical room- which was only two corridors away- I passed at least ten people, all of whom nodded their respects at me as we walked past each other. I may not be a Mob boss yet, but I still had a high status around here, as I was one of the five sons.

My two oldest brothers had a different skin complexion to Jasper, Emmett and I. This was a result of us having different Mothers. Jared and Sam's mother had been native American, before being shot by our Father -Edward Cullen Sr. She had found out about what job my father was really doing -instead of the businessman he always claimed to be- and she resisted and began threatening about going to the police, and then he just lost it and shot her. Apparently both Sam and Jared were pretty torn up about it at the time, but they had gotten over it letting their senses rather than their emotion control them.

My mother was Elizabeth Mason, we shared the same bronze hair and green eyes, and according to Jasper, the same compassion and sensitivity. I couldn't remember much of my Mother, only that I knew she loved me very much. My father was devoted to her when they were together, and was devastated when she died of sudden cancer. That was about ten years ago, and after that my Father became a sullen man, he died five years later when I was twelve.

I hadn't even realised that I had entered the medical room by now, and glancing at the clock on the wall, I had been in here for about fifteen minutes. Well...at least Carlisle isn't here to ask questions. I know that he disapproves of a lot of things that we do, but he knows better than to speak up. In this line of work you begin asking to many questions or disagree...then you die.

I rummaged through the many cupboards and drawers until I found what I was looking for. I found cotton wool, a bottle of water along with a cup and a bottle of aspirin humming to myself, I made my way back to the room, unlocking the door as I reached it.

After walking in, I found Isabella still asleep on the thing mattress. The blood had almost stopped flowing now, but it was sticking to her hair and face, I guess she would have to take a shower when she woke up.

Still pissed that I had to do this, I dragged a wooden chair across the room, not caring if it made noise and woke her up. I tore of some cotton wool from the roll I had taken, and dipped it in the jug of water. Next, I began cleaning up her wound, the blood coming off her head easily and onto the wool. Soon though, the cotton wool began too filthy and I had to start over again, then again, until I had used almost the whole roll.

_This has to be the most boring job_, I thought to myself, _Jared knows that I could handle much more than _this_; he is just too lazy to order anybody else to do it. _Thinking of my brother made me angry, and I accidentally pressed to hard against the wound and with a gasp, the girl woke up.

"Sorry," I murmured, continuing to dab away. The girl stared up at me with wide eyes, terror written all over them.

Suddenly, she grabbed my wrist and pushed it away from me.

"Don't touch me!" she hissed, trying to get up off of the bed.

"I'm trying to help you," I retorted, "the least you can do is co-operate."

She sat up on the bed, rubbing the back of her head. "You think I am going to co operate with a sadistic killer like you? Well think again."

I rolled my eyes and stood up, walking towards the door, I didn't want to be in here any longer than was necessary. I heard the girl stand up behind me, only for her to groan. I turned around, wondering what she had done now, when I saw her sitting on the floor clutching her head.

Then I remembered that was what the aspirin was for. Pulling it out of my pocket, I knelt down in front of her and held the bottle in front of her face.

"Take this, it will help," I urged, shaking it a little. However, she just stared at it as though I was offering her drugs. "Oh for God's sake, they aren't going to kill you. Look." Proving my point I took off the lid and tipped two pills into the palm of my hand. Making sure that she was watching, I put the palm to my mouth and swallowed them.

She sighed and grabbed the bottle off me and didn't take two, but five pills.

"Are you trying to overdose," I said, taking two of them away from her hand.

"Maybe," she said, putting them in her mouth. "Why do you care," she continued.

"I don't," I replied scathingly, "I just don't want any of my targets die on me."

"I'm going to die anyway," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "What does it make a difference if I die now or later?"

"It matters to me, I want to get a...promotion, so...just stay alive for now."

I got up, my knees cracking and headed back towards the door.

"You know, when my Father finds you, I'm going to make sure that you and you're _buddies_ are going to be hung, drawn and quartered."

"That's a bit of an over exaggeration, isn't it?"

And she flashed me an 'angelic' smile.

"You're a fifteen year old girl, who had no morals and does whatever her daddy tells her to do. Don't think that your status will impress anyone around here, because it will work the completely other way. Do you know how many people in this country that hate you and your Father? Do you know how many people and countries are conspiring against you right this second? Do you know how women are forced into prostitution because the tax rate is so high they can't afford to pay it?"

She kept quiet throughout my whole rant, her eyes locked onto my feet.

"I know," she whispered.

"And yet you do nothing about it?"

"Like you said, I'm only a stupid fifteen year old."

Rolling my eyes again, I left the room; I don't think I had ever met such a hypocrite in my life.

"Oi! Edward!" A voice called from behind me. I was now near my room and turning around I saw my brother Emmett stalking towards me, look smug, but also a little pissed. Well that was nothing new; he was always pissed off about something or other.

"What?" I said, I was already irritated by the girl, but just even talking to Emmett made me feel even more so.

"What are you doing?!" he demanded.

"I was going to my room..." Confused, I frowned at him.

"Why aren't you guarding the girl?"

"Was I supposed to?"

"Yes," Emmett said, as though it was obvious. "It's your job remember?"

"I am not wasting my time babysitting some teenager!"

"Ah... but Eddie, you keep forgetting that you're a teenager yourself. Who knows you might have some.._.fun,_" and with a quick wink, Emmett walked in the direction he had just come from. I went into my room and grabbed my I-pod, just because I was going to be stuck in a small room with her for a few days, doesn't mean I have to talk to her.

I unlocked her door, and after I was in, I slammed it after me. The girl looked up at me with surprise, but when she saw who it was, she went back to tracing patterns on her jeans leg. Sitting down on the chair, I put my headphones in my ear, and turned my music on full blast, drowning out any talk that the girl might begin.

She gave me one filthy look before turning onto her side on the bed, and falling asleep.

I sighed; this was going to be a long few weeks.


	5. Leaving

**Bella's POV**

I was vaguely aware that someone or something was shaking me in my dreams. It was really annoying; I think my dream was quite good despite the situation I was in.

"Get up!" a voice hissed from above me.

A little disorientated, I opened my eyes to see Edward leering above me, his hands on my shoulder while he shook me awake. I blinked a few times to get rid of the sleep that was still threatening.

"What?" I snapped. Exhausted and hungry were not good combinations for kidnapped princesses.

"We're leaving," he said and turned away, grabbing something off the small table.

"Away."

"Why?" I demanded.

"You successfully managed to alert you Father to where we were; now he has the whole police force banging down front doors. It won't take long for them to find you here." Yes! Result! Edward must have seen the look on my face as he carried on. "So we are moving so somewhere _far way_," he said, emphasizing the last part.

My stomach pummelled to the floor. I had been close, _so close_ to being reunited with my Father again. But no they were always one step ahead of us.

He motioned towards the door. "Come," he said.

"No," I said firmly, knowing that force was about to be involved.

"What?" he asked, sounding surprised that I had argued with him.

"You heard me. I. Am. Not. Coming!"

His eyes flashed menacingly and in two strides he was next to me. Grabbing my arm, he attempted to pull me off the cot.

"Get off me," I hissed. "When I get away from here I will have you done for harassment." However, he didn't pay attention to my pathetic threats, he just tugged harder. I hooked my foot around the foot of the bed, rendering Edward unable to budge me.

I gave him a cocky smile, and he almost growled at me, but then a thought seemed to have struck him, as he smirked at me suddenly and before I knew it, his hands were around my waist and he lifted me up slightly and pulled me away from the mattress.

I lashed out with my arms and legs, trying to falter his grip around my stomach in some way, but I was very weak compared to him.

"Stop it," he growled. "Are you trying to make things worse for yourself? Because I can sedate you if it comes to it."

"You don't scare me," I lied.

I could almost see his smile. "Don't I?"

"No, now get off of me before I do something nasty to you."

"I don't think that you will have the chance."

I scowled and lifted my arms up so that I slid through his arms. Unfortunately though, he caught my wrists before I hit the floor. He began dragging me across the floor, ignoring my cries of pain as my back scraped across the hard concrete. I began wriggling again, but his grip tightened even harder on my wrists.

"Stop, please!" I begged. The circulations to my hands were getting cut off and I could feel them going numb.

"If you're going to act like a child, then I will treat you like one," he said.

"Child," I scoffed. "You're not much older than me. What is it, two, three years?"

"Shut up," he growled. And I began squirming again.

I heard footsteps in the corridor, and Edward paused for a moment, listening. "Jasper!" he suddenly called out. "Can you help me with her? She's being..._difficult_."

A blonde head popped around the door. He stood there for a few seconds, assessing the situation, and with a nod he walked over to me. I knew what he was about to do, so I began kicking my legs out towards his hands, making it hard to grab them.

Well, for most people that move would have worked, but I am dealing with Mafia guys here, so of course Jasper managed to grab them almost straight away. Together, Edward and Jasper managed to haul me off the floor, me struggling between them trying to get out of at least one of their grips, along with the shouting. I even knew that no one around here would help me, but it is a reflex action.

They both seemed to be communicating silently, as Jasper nodded once again, and dropped my feet onto the floor, and entered a room about 50 meters away.

"I told you," Edward warned me from behind, just as Jasper exited the room brandishing a needle.

"No, please. I promise," I pleaded. "Don't drug me..." But these men were ruthless, they ignored my cries and Jasper bent down. I cringed away from him and the needle, but before I had time to react, it was stuck into my neck. Almost instantly, I felt lethargic and dizzy.

"Well at least that problem is taken care of for another few hours," a faint voice said before I felt my eyes reluctantly shut.

**Edward's POV**

I watched the girl next to me as she 'slept'. Sleeping wasn't the correct term for what she was doing, drugged was a better word to use.

Emmett was driving up front, with Jasper in the passenger seat. My other brothers, Jared and Sam had left 45 minutes before us. We were all due to leave the same time, but Isabella had other plans.

I stared at her curiously for a few minutes. Her forehead was crinkled into a frown, and her lips were set in a small pout. Every now and then she would move restlessly, as though her dream was frightening or painful.

I had never met a girl before who was so feisty. Heck, I don't think that I had even properly talked to a girl before. I almost laughed to myself, sure I may have the looks, but if women even got a sniff of my line of work, they would run away screaming. Or maybe it was just the way I looked. I probably had the haunted look in my eyes much like my brother's; I had seen too many people die for it to not haunt me.

I sighed and rested my head against the seat, why does she have to be so difficult? It's not much to ask to listen to me was it? Also if she obeyed me, her survival chance also increased. If she wanted to pull through this, she would have to keep in everyone's good books. Kicking and screaming was not the way to ensure that.

"Jasper," I asked.

"Mm..." he replied, not taking his eyes from the window.

"What do you think is going to happen to her?" I inquired, with a jerk of a thumb towards Isabella. Only then did it occur to me that that action was not necessary, neither Emmett nor Jasper were paying attention to my face.

"I don't know," Jasper said with nonchalance.

"I hope we get to kill her," Emmett cut in. "It would be so fun to watch her squirm, beg and plead for her life," he continued. I could also see the masochistic smile, edging its way onto his lips.

I looked at the girl, disgusted. That was the way Emmett thought, but it was still disturbing for him to express them out loud. Emmett had killed and tortured too many people, that I had lost count. He had been doing this from quite a young age, so basically he has grown up thinking and acting like that. Well, I guess we had all been brought up that way, but Emmett was probably the worse out of all of us.

But seeing her sleeping, I couldn't help but feel sorrow for her. She was so young to have to endure all of this, on top of everything else. She looked so..._innocent, _and for once I wished it was someone else rather than her. Her fate at the moment was dark and distance, and not knowing what was about to happen to her was even worse. Of course, she probably suspected what out plans were, but even if she did, she hadn't complained about it. She just sat there and accepted what was about to happen.

Studying her again, I noticed a chain hanging around her neck. I realised straight away what it was; the Royal Pendant. Everyone knows about it, every monarchy of the world wore one, it was compulsory. So of course Isabella would be wearing one herself.

I resisted the urge to reach out and grab it. I had seen them on television, but I had never seen one with my own two eyes. From what I heard, they were supposed to be beautiful and very, very expensive.

_Maybe I could sell it_, I mused to myself quietly. But then I quickly decided against it. I knew for a fact that if I did that, the girl would probably die from grief. No, I couldn't give her more to worry about.

We were only about another hour's drive away when Isabella groaned and her hand moved towards her head, where she must have a thumping headache.

We all froze in the car, Jasper turning around in his seat and Emmett's eyes locked onto the rear-view mirror.

She was awake.

**Bella's POV**

I blinked a few times and opened my eyes. My vision was still hazy and blurred, and I struggled to make out where I was. However, from what I could visualize, I was in a car with two men up the front, and another sitting next to me. After a few more seconds, I could make out faces. The person next to me was Edward, and the man in the passenger seat was Jasper. I didn't recognise the man who was driving. But he was a big build and had brown curly hair. I couldn't see his face, but I now know from experience with these kinds of people, that he wouldn't be pleasant.

My head was thumping again, and I felt all weak and aching. The sedative they had used this time, in my opinion had worse after effects than the chloroform, so I prayed that they wouldn't use it on me again.

"What should we do?" Edward murmured, glancing at me then to the men up front and back to me again.

"Wh-where are we g-going?" I managed to croak out. I suspected that I had been out of it for at least an hour, but during that time my throat had managed to dry up.

No-one answered me.

"Tell me dammit!" I said, anger managing to seep through my powerless body.

Edward glanced at me nervously as though I was about to explode. "Emmett? Jasper?" he asked, leaving me confused. What was he asking, two words wasn't much of a question, and it didn't have enough information for starters. But then, I concluded, it was probably some form of secret kind of code that they used.

"Yes." They both answered simultaneously.

"Wha-" I began to ask, but before I could complete my sentence, Edward whipped out a bottle and some cloth, dipping the latter into the former, soaking it. Even from here I could smell the sickly smell, and I didn't suspect- I_ knew _what was about to happen.

However, before I had chance to fight back, the rag was clamped firmly over my mouth and nose, consuming me with its sweetness.

Then I remembered no more.


	6. Stolen Keys

**Bella's POV**

I became aware that someone indeed was moving me out of the car. I was still half unconscious so my brain was still fogged up and dazed, however I tried as hard as I could to concentrate on the surrounding voices.

Someone was carrying me, bridal style. I knew that whoever was holding me, must be quite strong, as they weren't staggering under my weight.

"Be careful," someone whispered.

The man who was holding me laughed, and then suddenly he dropped me. My eyes snapped open in shock, and I cried as I landed on the hard floor. I stared up to the big man who I vaguely remembered driving the car.

"What the fuck?" I spluttered, confused.

Someone nearby laughed, and I glared at Jasper with as much fathom as I could possibly gather. Edward was standing next to him, looking at me sympathetically. I felt a stab of annoyance at that; I didn't need anyone's pity. Especially _his_. He was the reason why I was here in the first place.

"Look! The Princess swears! Look at what a rebel she is," the big man laughed.

"Emmett," Jasper warned.

The man called Emmett rolled his eyes and then turned his attention to Edward. "Take her to her room," he ordered and walked inside. Jasper followed suit. Edward motioned to me to follow him, and I obeyed as though I was a dog on a leash.

Just as we entered the building, a familiar person walked across the corridor ahead.

"Akil?" I said to myself, confused.

Edward heard that. "What?" he asked perplexed.

"That was Akil Fadil, the Egyptian prince. What the fuck is he doing here?!" I spluttered.

Understanding drew across Edward's face. "That wasn't Akil," he said continuing his stride.

"Yes it was I just saw him."

"Akil is dead." Edward replied harshly.

"B-but, he was right there, in front of my eyes..." Edward just stared at me, and my voice faltered.

"We killed him. Sam, my brother, impersonated him."

I stopped in shock and I began to feel sick. People had _died _in the process of kidnapping me, a Prince as well. How on earth did they manage that? Royalty always had the best bodyguards, and how did the press not find out about this scandal. Surely it would have been all over the news just like my abduction would have been. Edward glanced at me again, something stirring in his eyes. Was it...sympathy again? That is the second time in less than ten minutes that I had noticed Edward staring at me like that. I had no clue whatsoever as to why he was feeling sorry for me. He was one of them...wasn't he? But, I somehow doubted that a tiny bit. From what I had observed so far, whilst his brothers are clearly the bosses, it seemed like they looked down on him, bossing him around in the process. Sometimes I got the hint that he didn't particularly want to be there. So if that was the case, why _was_ he?

Then we walked in utter silence. Edward had a look of concentration upon his face. He stopped outside of a room, and opened the door waving his hand to signal that he wanted me to enter. I did and he followed, shutting the door after him.

He walked over to a rickety chair and sat down on his, crossing his arms and tapping his fingers almost impatiently on them.

"What, are you babysitting me or something?" I asked, annoyed that I couldn't even get five minutes alone.

"Yes." A smile played around the edge of his lips for some bizarre reason.

"I'm sure it wouldn't kill me if you left me alone for five minutes," I hinted.

"No, it might not. But it would probably kill me instead."

I scowled and sat down on one of the two mattresses. "So this is your job, looking after fifteen year old girls. You better not try anything funny, because I know how to look after myself."

He laughed. "I won't," he promised, and I almost believed him. I narrowed my eyes; he was still in the Mob, why should I believe a single word he says?

"Are you sure? Most men would jump at a chance like this."

"Well, if you want me to rape you..." he trailed off.

I stared at him horrified. "You wouldn't?" I dared.

He laughed again. "Of course I wouldn't, I was just seeing how you would react."

I shifted my eyes to the floor. "Oh."

The atmosphere in the room filled with an awkward silence, so I sat there, staring at the ceiling. I could feel Edward's penetrating gaze on my head, but when I looked up he was taking out his I-pod and putting it in his ears, just like he did hours ago. He picked a song, and turned it up onto full volume. From what I could hear, the artist was clearly Linkin Park – one of my favourite bands- but however, I could not make out which song it was from this distance.

I wish he would turn it off; strangely enough I wanted to talk to him again. He seemed to be the only person around this place who I could even approach and talk too. Besides, I was quite curious about him.

I watched him as he closed his eyes, humming to himself. It only occurred to me then that he hadn't locked the door, and if he couldn't see or hear anything that I did...

Gingerly, I got up off the bed, testing to see if he would react, so far, so good. I took a few footsteps towards the door, keeping my eyes on Edward the whole time. My heart was hammering in my chest so hard that I thought it would rip out of my ribcage. I took a deep breath and ran to the door, figuring that I would better get it over and done with.

However, as soon as I yanked it open, an arm extended in front of me and grabbed my wrist, pulling me back into the room.

"Let go," I hissed, trying to rip my arm out of his grip.

"You were trying to escape," he stated coldly.

"And I would have succeeded if it hadn't been for you," I spat back.

"You could have been shot."

"I don't care; I'm going to die anyway."

He rolled his eyes and turned away. "Stop being so dramatic," he said.

"You will look at me when I talk to you!" I shouted.

He turned around and snarled. "I am not one of your slaves. I don't take orders from anybody. Especially spoilt, rich bratty children like _you_!"

I gasped, and swung my hand up and slapped him hard across the face. He swore and clasped his hands around his cheek. I hoped that it would leave a mark. I lifted my hand up again for another round, but he seemed to recover and grabbed my wrist before it could make contact. He did the same with my other hand when I attempted to hit him with that one.

He walked forwards – pushing me backwards – and leaned his head down to my ear.

"I suggest that you don't hit me again," he whispered almost seductively.

My back was pressed against the wall, and Edward was pressed against me, so that I could barely move a single muscle.

"I can do whatever I want," I whispered back.

"Oh really?" he smirked. "What can you do now?"

"You're an arrogant, egotistical bas-" I began, but the door slammed open revealing two people. One was Jasper, and the other was Akil (well Sam).

Jasper's eyes flickered between both Edward and I, who had sprung away from me when the door opened. Sam was staring at Edward; no emotion whatsoever appeared on his face.

"Edward. Outside. Now!" He ordered Edward with the jerk of his thumb. Edward sighed and followed Sam out of the door, whilst Jasper stood there, staring at me.

I met his glare, and stared him out, until eventually he looked away.

A minute later, Sam entered the room, looking very pissed about something.

"Edward has some work to do," he growled. "So, Jared has put me in charge of the babysitting." He continued, adding in a glower directed at me.

Jasper left the room and shut the door after him. Edward didn't return.

I eyed Sam warily; he was staring at me with an evil glint hidden behind his eyes. I shuddered, and sat down on the cot, always making sure that my eyes never left his.

Suddenly he was in front of me, crouching on the floor so that our faces were level.

"You know your Father was planning to get you married off to me." He said, almost absentmindedly. I stared at him in horror. "While I was 'Akil' of course," he continued with a humourless laugh. "Ha! Imagine if he married you off to a Mob boss. That idea is just laughable." He brought up his hand and stroked my cheek, I shivered.

"I can smell the fear radiating off of you," he whispered.

"Get away from me," I said, with as much strength as I could muster.

"No, I'm okay here thanks."

"I said go AWAY!" And I shoved his shoulders, pushing him away from me, which was a really bad idea in his books.

He got up off of the floor and slapped me across the face just as I had done to Edward. But his wasn't a slap; it was more of a punch.

I fell off the bed and onto the floor, clutching my head in agony. I attempted to get up so I could crawl someplace and try and hide safely. But Sam was over me and began kicking my ribs. I cried out in pain.

"I hope you're happy that you're stuck with me for the next few days." Sam growled from above me.

I could almost see the smile on his lips as he said these words. Next, as though he had superhuman strength, he picked me up and threw me against the wall. I felt the pain shoot through my body and there was definitely going to be bruises appearing there in the morning. I tried to stand up again but he was standing right over me. He grabbed my arm and then twisted it so hard that if he twisted it anymore I was sure that my arm would break.

He bent over so that his lips were brushing against my arm and then opened his mouth as though he was going to kiss it, but instead he bit down hard. I screamed out in pain and lashed out at him kicking him where it hurts. He grunted and let go of me, and as he fell to the floor a set of keys fell out of his pockets, thankfully he was in too much pain to notice. I kicked the keys under the bed discreetly, hoping to have a chance to use them later. I walked over to him to kick him again but this time he grabbed my foot and pulled me onto the floor next to him. Then he stood up and kicked me over and over again, adding in a few punches whenever he felt like it. I don't know how long it lasted, but I knew enough not to even whimper as I didn't want to give him any satisfaction.

After what seemed like an eternity, he stopped attacking me and went out of the room mumbling something about being hungry and wanting to eat dinner. Thus, he left me lying on the floor in agony.

Gently, I moved my legs and my arms, checking that they weren't broken. All seemed well. I stood up slowly not wanting to push it and walked over to the bed and tentivilay picked up the set of keys that were hidden under it. Altogether, there were about 7 keys, all different types, attached onto a key ring of a gun silhouette. These were the same type of keys that Edward carried around with him and used to open and lock my door.

Without even pausing to think this through, I went over to the door and put the first key that looked like it would fit into the hole. I prayed to God that the key would click, as this is probably the only chance I would be able to get.

Fortunately for me the key worked, and I opened the door without a single creek. If Sam had gone to dinner now, odds were that most people would be with him. So I stepped into the corridor and turned right towards the emergency exit, hoping that no-one would discover that I was missing for at least a few more hours. Which was highly unlikely, I'd give it ten minutes and the alarm bells would go up. And with that I ran towards the exit as though my life depended on it.

**Jasper's POV**

I saw Sam enter the dining room, looking rather disgruntled as though he had just experienced a fight. He spotted me sitting alone in the corner and headed over to me, plonking himself down next to me without an invitation.

"You alright?" I asked him. And as his reply he grunted a yes, did I mention looking very pissed off about something.

I noticed that his knuckles were bright red as though he had been punching someone... _Or something._ I frowned; I hoped he hadn't been fighting with someone for no reason. It wasn't the first time that he had done something like that.

Next, he began shovelling as much food down his mouth as possibly could. Seeing as I already had finished and Sam didn't look very much in the mood for conversation, so I went to check on Isabella to see if she needed anything.

In a way, I felt sorry for her, but just a tiny bit. She was just so young to have to go through all of this and I felt a bit of regret at that. She didn't want her life that she had been born into, and we had taken advantage of that fact by kidnapping her and taking her here.

I turned a corner and stopped outside her door, only to find it already open. I frowned; Sam wouldn't have been that careless would he? No, he was usually very precise about things like this. Still frowning, I stepped inside to find the room empty. Shit. Oh god. Fuck! What was Jared going to do? She had run away to God knows where, though probably her home back in Volterra.

I ran down the corridor and into the dining room, dreading Jared's reaction to this news. I paused for a second to regain my breath. Everybody had turned to look at me when I slammed the door opened and was staring at me, curiously awaiting my answer for my abrupt appearance.

"She's gone!" I managed to announce and I saw Jared look like he was ready to kill Sam or the unlucky nearest person.


	7. Emmett and the train

**Bella's POV**

After I had ran out of the building, I sprinted my way across the stretch of grass towards the large forest that surrounded the perimeter.

It looks like all of those years of running around the palace grounds came off. My Farther insisted of those just in case I ever needed to run for some reason. I had always just thought he was insane thinking about that, but now I know why. I wasn't complaining, because it made me fit and healthy.

I kept looking behind me, terrified that somebody was following me. However, after the millionth time of checking behind me, I tripped over an oak tree root. I should have been watching where I was going. It's true that you are faster when you're not looking behind you or something along those lines anyway. The running felt worse than usual today, due to the fact that I had just been beaten up by a man about twice my size and weight.

The forest seemed endless, and I knew that if I didn't find a way out of here soon, I would get lost in the miles of dense trees. Well, that was an over exaggeration. I had no idea the size of this place, but in situations like these, you automatically jump to the worst conclusion.

_Way to be optimistic Bella, _I said to myself.

After stumbling and tripping about twenty more times, I noticed that the forest started to thin out, the bushes were less bushy and not as close together, and the trees were not as big, wide and thick. And sure enough after about 10 more minutes of jogging, I ran out onto a small road. I kept to the brim of the forest's edge, so that I wouldn't be seen by passersby, but not too far in that I couldn't see the road.

After a while a sign popped up saying, _Firenze 2 miles_. Firenze wasn't that far from Volterra and there was definitely a train station there, I remember going through it when my Father and I toured the country. But the only problem was... Is that I couldn't remember where it was.

My thoughts occupied me for the next fifteen minutes or so – trying to figure out where the station should be- and the next thing I knew, I was standing outside of a small corner shop. It was made with outdated wood and old club posters and advertisements on the window. The door was wide open, with a stack of newspapers just outside of it. From a quick glance I could see the headlines of one of them:

'KINGS DAUGHTER MISSING. SAID TO BE TAKEN BY THE MAFIA'

And underneath it was a picture of me, taken a few months ago whilst I was shopping in Rome. This picture made me ache inside. Only just a few days ago I still had that life, all planned out and very simple. There was no need to worry about being on your deathbed or being beaten up so badly that you couldn't eat.

Tears sprang into my eyes and I collapsed onto the floor, crying, and also trying to close the gap of pain in my heart. The cold hard concrete floor was the only reminder that I could probably freeze to death out of here. But at that moment in time, I didn't care. I would rather die than go back to that place.

After a while, some kind person wrapped a blanket around me and escorted me into the shop. I was led past the isles of food and magazines and into a back room, which was half hidden behind the till.

I was still crying by the time that the old man had me settled into an armchair and made me a cup of hot chocolate. The affection this unknown man gave to me made me cry harder. Nobody had been this kind to me, ever. My father had always just given me to whichever nanny that came and as I got older I had no friends as they were all fake, just wanting to know me just because I was the Princess, and my bodyguards never talked to me, they just watched with their cold blank eyes.

After a while, my crying died down and the old man began asking questions that he had obviously wanted to ask for a long time.

"Are you the Kings daughter?" He inquired, his voice burning with curiosity. Every time I tried to open my mouth to reply, nothing came out so I opted for nodding. His face turned from grey to white and then finally back to its original colour.

"Right, that is going to be a problem." And then it went quiet apart from the occasional sound of my sniffling. I couldn't take it.

"Excuse me, but where's the train station?"

"About 5 minutes down the road. Why?"

"I need to get back to Volterra."

"You know it won't be safe, they are still looking for you."

"Yes, I am aware of that issue, but I need to take the chance or I will never get home."

"I just don't like the thought of a young girl like you out on her own with people looking for her." And then an idea seemed to strike him. "You know what. _I _will take you back to Volterra. Then I can make sure you're safe." I looked around the room, and I felt uneasy, I mean there were guns hung on the walls and newspaper articles; all about the Mafia. It made me feel ill just at the thought of them.

"Um, I'm fine thank you." I only just met this old man and yet he was already offering to give me a lift back to my _home_. He shouldn't be taking this much concern in me. I guess that he is probably hoping that he would get money if he helped me. He frowned and then decided that he wouldn't win, that was too true. My father always had told me that I was similar my Mother, stubborn wise. He got that right. I was never told who my mother was. I was only told that she was pretty and that I would find out more when I was older. But I doubt I will. I don't even have a picture of her.

"Well at least let me buy the train ticket." Ah. _That_ I was grateful for, I hadn't even thought about how I would afford a ticket.

"Would you mind? I promise I will get my father to pay you back and some extra for helping me." He seemed to cheer up as soon as I said finished my sentence, and then he walked out of the room mumbling something about just calling the train station to book a ticket.

For the five minutes he was gone I looked at the newspaper articles on the wall, reading the headlines and some of the articles. I gasped at the things that they had done; burnt people alive, drive by shootings. That kind of stuff, which just proved that they were the vilest creatures to walk this earth.

"I know it's disgusting isn't it?" Said a voice from behind me, I hadn't heard him enter the room.

"Yeah..." This was what they could do to me if they found me, the thought made me shiver.

"Are you cold?"

"Yes." I said, surprising myself. Then I realised that I smelt a bit as well.

"Um, I don't mean to be rude, but do I have time for a shower?" I said then smiled sheepishly. To my surprise he laughed.

"Yes of course you do! I also can give you some clean clothes if you want. They are my daughter who is your age, but I'm sure she wouldn't mind." He led me out the room and back through the shop and up some stairs. At the top of the stairs there was a small landing with about 5 rooms leading off of it. He opened the second door and it revealed a bathroom. He walked back out and returned with some clothes, a toothbrush, from the shop and a clean towel.

"Thank you so much." I was unbelievably grateful for his hospitality.

"It's no problem. You have an hour until your train gets there so you better hurry up." He smiled at me again and left the room, closing the door behind him. I jumped into the shower, savouring the hotness of the water; I shampooed and conditioned my hair, loving the smell of the strawberry scent that the shampoo emitted.

I got out of the shower and brushed my teeth. Turning around, I saw a hair dryer under the sink and dried my hair, then got changed into some clothes. He had given me a pair of dark skinny jeans, pumps, a nice top and a hoodie, I really appreciated it. I walked downstairs, back through the shop and into the back room behind the till. The man looked up as I walked in and invited me to sit back down.

"Your train leaves in 20 minutes so we better get down there now it's a 5 minute drive. Oh and I don't think I actually told you my name?" I shook my head.

"Well it's Phil. Phil Dyer."

"I'm Bella. Bella Swan. But you probably know that by now." He laughed and motioned for me to follow him outside to his car. The journey to the train station was quiet apart from the sounds of our breathing. When we got there Phil got out with me following him and spoke to a man at the ticket counter. He handed him some money and received a ticket in return. Then Phil walked back over to me and gave me the ticket along with some money.

"You'll need something to eat." He explained when I looked at him questionably.

"Thank you so much for everything. You are the kindest person I have ever met and I promise that I will repay you as soon as I get home. And also tell your daughter thanks for the clothes."

"There is no need to pay me back, I enjoy meeting new people." He smiled at me sadly and pulled me into a small hug. And then walked away, leaving me on the cold platform. After a few minutes I decided to get something to eat at the café and ended up getting a sandwich. I wolfed it down, just finishing it as the train came around the corner.

I stepped onto the train jumping the gap between the train and the platform, as I usually tended to miss and get my foot stuck. I walked into a carriage to find that it was almost empty, though I wasn't surprised at this time of night though. As I sat down, I got a few weird looks from the few passengers. I sat down properly and breathed a sigh of relief. I was nearly going home! I would be safe, and even if I do get in danger my body guards would always be there to protect me.

The train began to slow down and I looked out of the window, wondering why we were already there? But we weren't, we were at a small stop. Only one person was waiting on the platform. From what I could make out he was big with brawn and muscles and when he stepped into the light. I realised who he was.

Emmett.

Oh crap.

My mind went into action/ thinking mode. I ran into the train's toilet and sat on it with the lid closed down. He was coming to take me back. Probably threaten me with a gun, as it was the kind of thing that they do. It made my blood boil. But how was I supposed to get off the train without him seeing me?

Well, I could always pull the emergency stop button and jump off the train before he realises it was me all along. I looked around on the walls and saw the button just above the sink. I leapt up and pushed it down and the train slowed down until it came to a halt. I walked out of the toilet and quietly closing the door. Thankfully, Emmett was sitting with his back to me so I was able to stand by the door without him seeing. I could hear the train driver shouting at the other end of the train saying that when he catches the hooligan who did this, he was going kill them.

I pulled the door open and let the cool night air whip me in the face. I looked below and it was quite a jump. But it was either this or go back there. I bent my knees and jumped, only gasping out when I landed wrong. But there was no time for that now. I got up and ran towards this broken wooden fence, just as I was about to climb through the train started going again and there was no sign of Emmett.

Smiling, I climbed through.

**Emmett's POV**

I hope Jared is happy. Standing in this freezing cold train station platform was _not_ in my job description. I looked at my watch for what seemed the billionth time and found the train was 10 minutes late already.

"For fucks sake," I grumbled to myself.

Jared had as many people as he could muster getting on trains all over the place into Volterra in hope of finding Bella. Stupid bitch. Why couldn't she just be a good little girl and stay where she was? Then I wouldn't be standing here freezing my arse off.

After about another five minutes, I could hear the tracks vibrating and that meant a train was coming. Finally! She better be on it, or I would have been standing here for nothing. I stepped onto the train and looked around the carriage. I briefly saw the shutting of the toilet door but other than that, there was no sign of her.

Great.

I sat down on a seat and lay my head back, thinking about some sleep. The train started up and after what seemed like 30 seconds slowed down and came to a halt again. I looked up startled, and saw the other passengers were too. There was no other stop now until Volterra, though we were in the rough edges of the city. I frowned, something was definitely off.

I heard the train driver shouting that he was going to kill whoever did this, but that wasn't what I was thinking about. I turned around to see Bella jump of the train. Shit.

Things clicked into my head. This train had come from the town near the base, Bella not been seen, but I had seen the toilet door shut.

She was there all along!

I jumped up and ran over to the now shut door. But just as I was about to open it and jump out, the train started up and I looked out the window to see Bella climbing through the fence. I got my phone out and rang Edward; he was in that area at the moment doing something for Jared.

He answered on the first ring. "Hello?"

"Edward I need your help." I had never thought that I would have to say those words

"What is it?" He asked, sounding confused.

"Bella has just jumped off the train and went through the fence into the part of Volterra you're in at the moment. Can you look for her and pick her up? And if she resists, stun her with your gun." Wish it would be a real bullet not a stunning one. Inside the bullet there was a special liquid that knocks the victim out for at least twelve hours.

"Sure." And the phone then went dead, along with my pride.

**Bella's POV**

I knew where I was, in the rough part of Volterra. I frowned; I had hoped that I would never have to come down here.

I walked down the dimly lit streets which were deserted apart from drunken voices I could hear just around the corner. I followed their voices, in hope of finding some directions but just as I turned the corner, I saw that there was no point. They looked to blind drunk to help me. I scowled and crossed over the road looking at the cracks in the pavement. I passed them on the other side of the road and one of them shouted out too me.

"Hey sugar! Want to come over here and have a drink with us!" His voice was slurred and when my head snapped up I saw he was about 18, around the same age as his mates.

I kept my head down and turned another corner. But after a while I heard some footsteps behind me and I turned around to see that it was a few of the boys from the group earlier. I turned back around to see that a few more boys were in front of me walking towards me. I turned into a little alleyway in hope of avoiding these people, however as I walked down it I realised that it was a dead end.

Just what I needed, thank you Lord.

I turned back around, thinking that the boys would have met up and gone away, but I was wrong. They were all standing at the mouth of the alleyway and I saw the glint of a knife.

My eyes widened and the boy with the knife smiled. I stepped back as he made his way down the alleyway.

"Come on sugar. There's no need to be like that. I won't hurt you. I promise." His breath smelt of beer and his hair was greasy which made me feel sick.

"Stay away from me." I said in what I hoped was a threatening voice. Apparently not though.

He bought his knife and put it too my throat.

"Now you will do exactly what I say or I will slit your throat." His free hand pushed his way past the shirt and rested on my stomach. But before he could do much more there was a few grunts and then silence. We both turned to see what had happened and there I saw...

"Edward," I breathed.


	8. Shot at and hit

**Edward's POV**

I sighed, frustrated, when I hung up the phone to Emmett. Why couldn't Bella just stay put! Now _I_ have to go look for her and drag her back to base. It was something I had to do, even though I didn't particularly want to take Bella back to my brothers. Knowing someone's fate and being able to do something about it was horrible if you couldn't.

_Stop it Edward,_ I told myself. _Your duty comes first. Don't let anything get in the way of that._

I scowled to myself and got back into my car. I started the engine and drove around the streets looking for her. Looking around, I saw that this wasn't exactly the best place to be at night on your own, and 15 years old. Gangs of late teenagers hung around the corners drinking and smoking. I scowled as one of them put their middle finger up as me as I drove past the fourth teenage gang I had seen tonight.

"Yeah, up yours," I mumbled. I knew it sounded stupid but it was just one of those moments when it would just come out.

The next street I turned onto, all of the houses were unoccupied, they were bordered up and a lot of the windows were broken. One house even had toilet paper draped over it.

How attractive.

I turned a few more corners, and still no sign of Bella. Where the hell is she? But to be honest, this area is quite big; she could be anywhere by now. Or maybe she is not even here anymore. It's not hard to get a lift from somebody nowadays.

After another few corner turns, I turned onto a street with another teenage gang on. They seemed to be turning down an alleyway. But something about that didn't seem right. So I stopped the car and climbed out.

One of them turned around to look at me as I slammed my car door shut, and I recognised him as the one who had stuck his middle finger up at me earlier. He looked about my age, maybe a few years older. He turned back around as I casually walked past him. Peering past into the alleyway along the way to see what was happening.

And what I saw made my blood run cold.

There at the end of the alleyway was Bella, cowering underneath this scum who had put a knife to her throat. I couldn't hear what they were saying but I knew that he was up to no good.

A growl crept up in my chest so loudly, that the boys who were standing at the mouth of the alleyway turned to look at me, one of them knocking over a dustbin in the process. This caused Bella and the dirty bastard to look at me. And as soon as Bella took in my face, relief washed over her and her lips moved but I couldn't make out what she had just said.

In one simple swift movement, I had karate chopped the 5 boy's necks, making them unconscious and causing them to slump onto the ground. Bella's face was in pure terror now as the boy with the knife grabbed her and put her in front of him with the knife pressed harder against her neck. As I approached them I could see droplets of blood forming on her neck, as the blade broke her skin.

I growled again as I got out my gun. The bullets I had at the moment were used to stun people, but for the reason I was about to use it for I wish they were to kill.

I lifted my gun up and took aim, just above Bella's head, into his. He pulled Bella closer to him and I pulled the trigger. A bang, and then it went silent. Bella was free from his grip as he fell to the floor and grabbed the knife the boy was holding, with droplets of her blood on the sharp edge of the blade. She wiped her blood on the sleeve of the hoodie she was wearing and turned to look back at me.

"Stay away," she said, her voice wavering. The knife was now pointed in my direction at my chest.

She looked so scared and lost. And upon a close inspection, I noticed that she wasn't in the clothes that she was wearing earlier. She had changed her clothes and her hair was shiny and clean. So she must have found refuge at a stranger's house for while. This scared me a little; people think different things these days. She could have been raped which I had just prevented from happening.

"Bella, I'm not going to hurt you."

"No. But you're going to take me back." My eyes fell to the ground as I tried to avoid her eyes.

"Yes! I knew it. S-s-s-stay away." My eyes leapt back to her face which looked wild.

"Please, Bella," I begged. I was the one with the gun and yet _I_ was the one begging at her to listen to me, to see my reasons for taking her back.

"No. Like I said, stay away from me." Her eyes began to brim with tears and she lifted up her spare hand to wipe them away. I wanted to hold her and whisper to her that everything would end out OK, even though they probably wouldn't. Wait, why was I feeling like this? I should be emotionless; I can't let my feelings in the way. She is just a subject, she is just a subject, I tried to remind myself.

She stepped around me, the knife still pointed at my chest, and her eyes fell onto the gun in my hand. I lowered it, I really didn't want to have to use it on her, but if it came to it I would have too. I still don't know why I won't just let her go. It was probably because I wanted to spend time with her, or that if one of my brothers found her they would put her though so much pain, or mostly the fact that I idolised my brothers still too much to let anything get in the way.

**Bella's POV**

"_Edward," I breathed._

Edwards face, was the most terrifying thing I had ever seen. In one smooth movement; he karate chopped the back of the boy's necks and they fell onto the floor either dead or unconscious. I hoped the latter; I would rather not witness people being killed before my own two eyes. The boy with the knife grabbed me and placed me in front of him, while the knife pressed harder across my neck. I could feel my skin cracking beginning to form beads of my blood.

Edward, slowly crept towards us, his hand inside he coat pocket and he withdrew a gun. I froze.

A gun, he could kill me right now with it. I shivered and the knife was pushed harder against my neck as the boy holding me saw the gun Edward was carrying.

Edward lifted the gun so the nozzle was directed just above my head, directly at the boy's head- which was another advantage of being smaller than most boys.

The knife yet again pressed harder down on my neck as I saw Edward's finger rest on the trigger, and then pulled it back. There was a loud bang, and then complete and utter silence apart from the sounds of mine and Edward's heavy erratic breathing.

The boy holding me, dropped to the ground and I was left standing staring at Edward.

Still keeping my eyes on Edward, I bent down and picked up the knife which lay next to me, my blood covering the edge of it. I wiped off my blood with my sleeve and pointed the knife towards Edward.

"Stay away from me." I said feeling my voice wavering at the end of my sentence.

"Bella, I'm not going to hurt you." He said, surprised at my reaction to him. Well if he just expected me to go with him quietly, then he has another thing coming. I had gotten this close to escaping and I wasn't in any hurry to go back.

"No. But you're going to take me back." His eyes fell to the floor, clearly avoiding my lies.

"Yes!! I knew it. S-s-s-stay away." My heart felt as though it had dropped a thousand feet.

"Please, Bella," he begged.

"No, like I said, stay away from me." My eyes filled with tears, as my dream of Edward coming to rescue me and take me to America went down the toilet. I wiped my tears away with my free hand and looked at Edward again. His face looked pained.

I stepped around him, making sure that my knife was still pointed at him, with my eyes on the gun ready to run if he pulled the trigger. He saw where my eyes were looking and lowered it, as if it would somehow convince me to go with him.

By now I was facing the dead end of the alleyway and Edward- my back was facing the mouth. I took a few steps back, testing to see if he would take some forward. But he didn't.

"Bella, please listen to me," he pleaded again, his arms reaching out as though to grab me. I took another step back.

"Go away. Stay away. I never want to see you again." I practically screamed at him. And with that I turned and ran out of the alleyway.

"BELLA! WAIT!" I could hear him shout behind me. But his voice was growing distant. I was too fast for him. However, I could still hear his footsteps pursuing me, but mine were still quicker. I could also hear him yelling my name at the top of his voice as I ran through the roads, with no idea where I was going, just hoping that I could get away from here, and _him. _

A loud bang erupted from about 50 metres behind me, and I felt something fly past my face, just missing me. My body nearly froze with shock. He was shooting me, he was actually shooting me. But I forced myself to keep going, just one pause and he could get me. One small stop for breath and the bullet could hit me, just keep going Bella.

I turned around to see how far behind he was from me, but to my dismay I saw he was gaining on me, with the gun raised. I looked forward again and picked up my pace. There was another bang but this time the bullet wasn't close to me. It was just a warning shot.

I turned onto the next street, but because I was concentrating on getting as far away from him as possible, I didn't see the uneven paving slabs. My foot got caught on them and I fell forward, falling flat onto my face. Before I had a chance to get up, a body jumped onto me pinning me down. I didn't have to turn around to see that it was Edward. He grabbed my wrists placing them them above my head on the floor and he turned me around so that our chests were pressed together.

He was positioned so that his body weight was on mine and so that he had pinned me down that I couldn't move an inch.

It was quite an awkward position.

"Edward, please let me go," I whispered.

"I can't Bella. Don't you understand?"

"You can come with me. We could run away to America, just the two of us." I knew how pathetic and stupid I sounded but I do want to run away with Edward. It seemed like a dream. Wait, where was I getting all of this crap from? He was my kidnapper! I hate him remember?

But staring into his eyes, all that hate would vanish in a second, and my insides felt all tingly.

"I can't." And again his voice sounded agonized, as though he really wanted to come with me.

I realised then I had no other choice. And with that I sucked in what breath I could muster -which wasn't easy, seeing as Edward was on top of me- and screamed so loud that I was sure somebody was bound to hear it.

Edward put both of my wrists into one of his hands and clamped the other one down onto my mouth. This must've been the third time that he has had to silence me that way.

"Bella, please be quiet, I need to call my brothers."

I hadn't noticed that he has just released my wrists; however, I still couldn't do much with them as Edward was heavier than me.

He got his phone out of his jean pocket and flipped it open. He pressed in a few numbers and put his phone to his ear. His hand was still clamped on my mouth.

"Hello Jared, its Edward. I have the girl." The girl? Nice. I did have a name. But I couldn't shout it out as I would have liked too.

I heard some mumbling from the other end of the phone.

"Yes, she's still conscious."

Then there was more mumbling.

"Well I didn't stun her with the gun, as she just accepted that she was coming back with me." Oh it was a stunner then. I also noticed that he mentioned nothing about me nearly escaping or how he was preventing me from escaping right that minute.

He paused while he listened to the voice on the other side of the line again.

"OK, I will see you in half an hour." He closed his phone and put it back into his pocket. He grabbed my wrists again with one arm, and released my mouth. He got up off of me and dragged me up with him. He let go of my wrists but so fast that I didn't have a chance to run he grabbed my arm.

"Come on. Let's get back to my car." And without giving me a chance to reply or anything, he tugged me along back the way I had just run.

As we passed some houses, I saw an old lady standing on her doorstep. As we walked -or rather marched- past her she called out at us.

"Hey! Aren't you Isabella swan?"

Edward gripped my arm tighter as though telling me not to say yes. But this was my last chance.

"Yes. Yes I am."

"I thought you were. The police are on their way." She said now standing in front of us with her hands on her hips. She grabbed my other arm and tugged me towards her. Edward still didn't let go, so I felt like I was being ripped in half.

"And you-" she turned to Edward. "-are going to enjoy a long life in jail."

"No I won't." He replied. "Because we leaving now." And tugging me, he released me from her grip and dragged me down the street towards his car.

The old lady was shouting after us and as I turned back towards her, she threw a brick at Edward. Before I had a chance to warn him, it hit him on the back, and surprised, he let go of my arm. I sprang away from him and ran down the street.

I stood at the edge of the pavement and ran out onto the road without stopping or caring to look left and right.

"Bella! No!" Edward shouted behind me and I turned to my right to see a car screech towards me, a pair of bright white lights, a scream which I assumed was my own, and then eventually nothing.

**Charlie's POV**

Ever since my beloved daughter had been kidnapped, I had not been able to eat or sleep. Sighing, I looked at a picture of Bella on my office desk. She looked so happy there but if you looked closely at her, behind her eyes you could see she was also very unhappy.

I thought back to when she had suddenly appeared on TV, when she had told me not to meet their demands and that she had never wanted any of this lifestyle, I felt unbelievably guilty. She should be with her Mother, not me. Her Mother left me because she didn't want to be Royal and now Bella has done the same. They were too much alike.

I banged my head on my desk, just as the door opened and my trusted servant James stood in front of my desk.

"Sir, your daughter Isabella has been spotted."

My head instantly shot up. "Where?!"

"In the outskirts of Volterra, she was spotted running down a street with a young man aged about 17, following her, carrying a gun which at the time was pointed at her." My heart sank. A gun, the Mafia! She's probably dead. But I mustn't give up any hope that I had.

"Get all police officers to that area, IMMEDIATLY!" I shouted, causing James to jump.

I could only just hope that Bella can survive until the police found her.


	9. Cracked and bruised

**Edwards POV**

No, not Bella. Please, anyone but her.

As I watched her run out on the road and get hit by the car, my body consumed with horror. But there was also a lot of regret for everything I had done to her. I shouldn't have let her go. I shouldn't have let that old lady seen me chasing her. I should have been more careful, and now Bella was paying for my carelessness.

As soon as I saw the car driving towards her, I ran towards the road and shouted for her to stop. But it was too late. I watched, frozen in place, as Bella screamed out and then fell silent as the impact knocked her unconscious... or _dead. _

She just lay there on the road, and I couldn't even move to help her. My muscles were locked tightly together, as though I had been sedated or paralyzed.

The doors of the car flew open and the driver and passenger got out. When I saw who it was my blood boiled; it was Emmett and Jasper.

"What was that for?!" I shouted at Emmett, and stormed over to him. Emmett was the driver so I placed the entire blame on him. Jasper was crouched on the floor next to Bella, checking her pulse. I prayed to God that she was still alive.

"What the _hell _are you shouting forEdward?! She is just a target! I don't think I killed her, it's not like she is anyone special."

I was about to retort, but a hand clamped down on my shoulder; Jaspers.

"It's okay Edward. She is still alive, just unconscious." I felt a rush of relief and gratitude. Out of all my brothers, Jasper was probably my favourite; he was at least halfway decent. Apart from the fact he usually made up all the missions, he was fair and the only one apart from me who probably had a heart. But Jasper takes his job seriously. Unlike me, who lets a girl get in the way.

"I put her in the backseat of the car." He looked around nervously to the bystanders on the street. "Let's get out of here, fast, before the police come and arrest us."

I ran over to the car and slid into the back seat, carefully as not to move Bella. I winced when I saw the state she was in. A huge bruise was forming on the left side of her face which will be very tender when she wakes up. Her lip was cut and bleeding and her hair was all messed up and tangled. However, she still looked beautiful even though she had just been hit by a car.

As soon as Emmett got in, we sped off and drove down the back roads, being careful that our car wasn't too conspicuous. But we would have to get rid of it, there was a high chance that someone had taken the nameplate, and we didn't want to take any chances.

"We need to dump the car somewhere." Jasper said, as though he was reading my thoughts.

"Hm..." I replied absentmindedly, my thoughts on Bella.

"I called Carlisle as well; he's setting up a small hospital type room for her." Carlisle was our doctor. If you had just been shot, you couldn't just walk into a hospital and asked to be treated, the wrong questions would be asked. It was safer to have our own doctor and surgeon. We were very lucky; Carlisle was one of the best doctors in Europe.

I was surprised that Emmett hadn't said anything yet, but my question was soon answered. After 20 minutes Emmett's deep loud snores filled the car, making it impossible for me to sleep. Not that I would have anyway. I was too worried about Bella to do anything else.

For the next fifteen minutes, I stared at Bella, just willing for her to wake up so that I knew that she would be fine. Her jean leg had rolled up and a huge bruise was forming on her right calve muscle, which wouldn't make it very easy for her to walk, or run. But thankfully, I got my wish. After a few more minutes Bella began to stir.

"Jasper, she's waking up."

"The sounds of Emmett's snoring probably woke her."

Her eyelids fluttered open and she shot up in her seat. Her wide eyes took me in, then Jasper and then finally Emmett. Suddenly, she grabbed the door handle and began tugging at it, luckily it was locked.

"Let me out!"

"No."

"Let me out now!" she screamed.

Jasper didn't intervene. So I grabbed Bella's arms and pried them away from the handle. She gave up in defeat and slumped back in her seat. Her eyes filled with tears and she wiped them away, leaving her eyes red and swollen

"I was close, so close." She whispered and I pitied her. She had come so close to being home, but I had to ruin that and take her back. I felt a little disgusted with myself.

By now we were down a back road into entering Firenze. We were only going about 20 miles an hour because of the icy roads. I wished Jasper would go faster; Bella needs to be checked over.

Bella was scooted as far away from me as she could on the seat and was looking out the window, her breath fogging up the glass. Everyone was sitting in silence; Emmett was awake by now and staring into the night, which was quite unusual for him. Usually he like to be loud and the centre of attention.

The only sound now was Bella's quiet sobs. She had tried to open the door again, but with no success. I only hoped that she didn't notice that the lock was down.

I swear that God was against me today, because she did. She noticed the lock. And so fast I nearly missed it, she pulled up the lock and opened the door. We were still only going about 20 miles an hour, but it would still hurt her if she jumped out at this speed.

"Stop the car!" The car came to a sudden halt, causing me to shoot forward in my seat, but Bella used it as a chance to jump out the car.

I jumped out the car, as did Emmett and Jasper; Bella had no hope of out running us. Her bruise was too big. And she had only taken about 5 steps since she jumped out.

"AHH!" She cried out in agony, as her right leg gave way and she fell to the floor clutching it. Jasper _attempted_ to pick her up. But she wouldn't let him touch her.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" She screamed.

Emmett was losing his patience with her, so he went right up into her face.

"You listen here you little _bitch_ you have caused us enough trouble already. So do us all a favour and keep quiet." And then he slapped her across the face.

I tensed and pulled Emmett away from her.

"Leave her alone." I snarled.

Jasper seemed to have realised that he wouldn't be able to pick her up, so he had a hand clamped down on her shoulder instead, making sure she couldn't go anywhere. Not that we wouldn't catch her anyway.

"Edward, you try," Jasper said exasperated. "She seems to calm down around you."

I crouched down and wrapped my arms around her waist. She struggled a lot but in the end I managed to pick her up. She couldn't walk so I ended up carrying her the few feet to the car. I opened the door with on hand, with Bella still in my other arm. I never noticed how light and small she was. I was worried about breaking her when I had her pinned down earlier.

I slid in the back seat, dragging Bella across next to me. I kept an arm wrapped around her waist in case she tried to jump out the car again and she leaned back on me her leg up on the seat.

She cried silently for a while and then fell asleep just as we were coming up into base.

I let her sleep.

We came to a stop and I lifted her out the car, cradling her like a baby. Carlisle was waiting for us at the entrance. I walked over to him, still carrying Bella. He frowned when he saw the state Bella was in.

"I set up a room in the middle of the building so she won't be able to escape again."

"Thanks Carlisle." He turned and I followed him down the hall. Jasper and Emmett had gone to tell Jared that I had found Bella. He led me into a room with no windows just a door. In the middle of the room was a hospital bed, with a heart machine and various wires plugged into different things.

I placed her on the bed and Carlisle immediately put a needle in her wrist and plugged her up to the heart monitor.

I watched in the corner of the room quietly. And after a few tests, Carlisle declared that had a damaged leg and a few cracked ribs, but she would be fine, she just needed a lot of rest, and with that he left the room, leaving Bella still asleep, but now under painkillers for leg, her head and her ribs. Apparently she had hit her head pretty hard when the car had slammed into her.

And because I knew Bella would be alright in the end, I fell asleep calmly, dreaming of America.

**Bella's POV**

I woke into a brightly lit room with no windows. My head felt heavy and I ached all over. I examined what I could of myself, twitching my arms and leg muscles. All was fine, apart from when I moved my right leg it seared with pain and my chest hurt when I took deep breaths. I had better leave it alone for a while.

When I moved my right arm I felt a tugging at my wrist. I looked down and I saw a needle sticking out of it plugged into a plastic bag with water in. I felt sick.

I touched the needle with my left hand, wincing when I accidentally moved it. It was going to have to come out. I grabbed it with my fist and prepare to yank it out but before I could, someone's hand grabbed my wrist.

"Oh no you don't." said a voice I would know anywhere; Edward's.

I looked up into his eyes and he smiled a crooked smile. It made my stomach flutter.

I blushed when I remembered my little fit last night, screaming at Jasper not to touch me. Trying to escape from the car but failing.

"What?" Edward asked, noticing my blush.

"It's nothing."

"Oh." He let it go.

After a while, I fell back into a deep slumber only to be woken up again by the faint sound of voices. I raised my head, glad to find that the needle was gone and I wasn't connected to any kind of machine.

The voices were coming from outside the door. I stretched as far as I could on the bed but couldn't see anybody standing in the doorway.

I frowned, who was talking then? I jumped out of the bed, nearly screaming when I landed on my right leg. I had forgotten about that.

I crept out into the hallway and peered into the room next door. Standing in there was Edward and a blonde haired man with blue eyes. I had never seen him before.

"Edward, the girl is going to kill herself if she keeps trying to escape. You should see the x-rays of her, bruises and cuts everywhere. She's even managed to bruise her bones. It's going to kill her in the end if she carries on."

"Don't worry Carlisle; she's not escaping anywhere anymore. I'll make sure of that." A hard edge crept into his voice. I didn't really want to hear anymore. Who cared if I died trying to escape? It was better than staying here. Edward and the man I assumed was Carlisle kept talking about me but I didn't stay around to hear any more of it.

I looked both ways down the hallway and they were empty. Both had two doors at the end of it. One of them said Emergency Exit.

Excellent.

I slowly made my way towards the door, only stopping to hide in a doorway when I heard Edward and Carlisle exit the room they were in. Well I had only a minute to escape, in which I wouldn't get very far with my leg.

But I had to try.

I had only managed to go a few more steps when I heard someone running up behind me and grabbed my arm.

No surprises, it was Edward. The man Carlisle was standing behind him a small smile on his face.

"Do you ever give up?!" Edward said exasperated.

"No." I replied and the man Carlisle laughed.

"Well, Edward," Carlisle said. "Looks like you have a bundle of trouble there." And with a wink at us, he walked away leaving me completely and utterly confused.


	10. Getting to know each other

**Bella's POV**

It has been exactly a week since I got hit by the car. And God hasn't that week _sucked_.

I had attempted to escape another four times. But no, it hasn't worked. I might as well give up, but I didn't; I owed my father that much. After my fourth attempted escape -at which I was dragged back by Edward _again-_ Jared ordered Edward to be in the same room as me twenty-four/seven, keeping guard of me.

How much I enjoy it (note the sarcasm).

I hadn't spoken to Edward since he had bought me back here. It was his entire fault, he could have just pretended not to have found me and let me go. But no he couldn't even do that. He has to take the order from his brother.

Actually, I haven't even spoken in a week. And I'm sure that when I do try and speak again, a croak would just come out, like a frog would.

Edward has been guarding over me now for a few hours, at which he kept trying to talk to me. I just ignored him and stared at the spot on the grey wall.

"Bella." Doesn't he get the hint? If I wanted to talk to him I would have answered. So I started to massage my temples because they were beginning to ache.

"Bella, _please_ talk to me. No. Not even that. Just at least _listen_ to me." His voice was starting to give me a proper headache now. I clamped my hands over my ears so that I wasn't able to hear him. It was probably the most childish thing I had ever done, but it also worked. I closed my eyes as well and began to try and relax.

I began to hum Claire de Lune on top of all of that. It had always been my favourite piece of music. I began to listen to it when I was 10, my Father had it playing at a ball and I instantly fell in love with it.

I hummed about 30 seconds of it, loud enough so that I couldn't hear Edwards muffled pleas, but then two warm hands grabbed my wrists, prying them away from my ears and my eyes flew open with shock.

"What?" I snapped.

"Bella, I'm sorry, I really am. I should have let you go." His eyes fell to the floor as I stared at him my mouth open surprised. He thinks he should have let me go? Why the sudden change of mind?

"Why do you keep dragging me back when I try to escape then?"

"Because if any of my brothers found you once you escaped, they would probably kill you."

"Oh." Maybe Edward wasn't all bad then.

It went quiet. I asked the question I had been wondering since I met Edward

"So why did you want to be like them then?"

He looked at me as though this wasn't a question he had expected me to ask.

"Oh... Um... I don't actually know. My dad died when I was nine years old and he told Jared that he wanted me to be in the Mafia as well. I didn't really have a choice, but I idolized my brothers quite a bit. But I've been thinking, maybe this isn't the right choice for me." And he looked back up at me as he finished his sentence.

"What about your mother? Did she not want you to become all involved with this?" Pain flashed through his eyes.

"I never knew my mother, she left a few weeks after I was born as soon as she found out my dad was in the Mob. I'm surprised she hadn't found out all the time they were together."

I felt a pang of sympathy for Edward. His life has been even crappier than mine, and that was saying something.

"What about you?" he asked.

I smiled, almost the whole population knew about me. "You should know everything about me already, I mean I get in the newspaper just for buying a new pair of shoes."

He laughed. "Well I'd like to hear it all from your point of view all the same."

I smiled and began. "I never knew my mother either. My Father always told me that I was a lot like her though, but that he would tell me more when I was older. However, now I don't think he will ever have the chance too." Edward looked away. "I didn't like all of the balls and duties I had to attend too, I felt really trapped. For the last few years I had contemplated on running away. I had even told my maid Angela of my plans, as she was probably my best friend in the palace. But I had never had the chance to run away until the night you kidnapped me. I was planning to flee to America, where nobody would know who I was, and I could do high school as a normal person. It had been my dream for so long, but you all ruined it." My eyes filled with tears as I finished and Edward came and sat next to me and pulled me into his arms. It felt right me being held by him, like he was made for me.

I didn't want him to let go.

"I'm sorry," he whispered.

I smiled up at him. "No it's fine, without all of this I would never have met you." Oops that wasn't supposed to come out, I clamped my hand over my mouth. Next thing I knew, I would probably be telling him about my small attraction that I held for him.

But to my surprise he laughed. "Yeah I would never have met you as well. It would have saved me a whole lot of trouble of looking and dragging you back here if we had never met."

I had to laugh at that. "Well I had to at _least_ try. You know I will never let an opportunity pass me by , if I get one."

"Well let's just make sure there aren't any more chances then," he joked.

I laughed again.

"Well we shall see." I bought up my hand to poke his nose, to patronise him. But the sleeve of my hoodie fell down, and it revealed something that I didn't want Edward to see.

_Flashback- Two days before present_

_Emmett had just come to bring in my dinner, as usually it was cold soup with bread and a clump of butter to spread over it, next to it on the tray, was a knife._

_I didn't eat the bread, as I was trying to starve myself to death. At the moment I was feeling very suicidal. Who was I kidding? There was no way I was going to be able to escape anymore. Jared would make sure of that. _

_I sighed, I knew that it took ages to die from starvation. Normally, I wouldn't ever think of death as an option, but I had no others left. I would rather die than spend the rest of my life here, being beaten up and locked away._

_Death just seemed easier and much simpler. To me death seemed the best way to exist, if there was some kind of afterlife at all – I had never been the religious kind. It would be all peaceful and quiet. No pain, no agony. Just peaceful and more importantly, _perfect_._

_Looking at the knife gave me ideas. Surely cutting yourself would be easy and painless? _

_I stared at the knife, trying to figure out how hard it would be. I mean there was nothing that was really keeping me here was there? I never knew my Mother, and I hardly ever see my Father or speak to him, I don't have any brothers or sisters so that would miss me._

_It seemed like I had nothing left to live for._

_I picked up the knife and brought it to my wrists, and sliced is across . The knife wasn't sharp so it didn't go deep. I kept slicing and slicing, hoping to lose enough blood so I would slip into unconsciousness; it didn't work though. I began to slice my other wrist, again hoping to do some real damage. Again it didn't work. However, I had sliced deep enough to leave temporary scaring._

_I scowled and chucked the knife across the room, and it went under the bed._

_I walked over to the cot and fell asleep._

_End flashback_

Edward grasped my wrists and looked at me with horror.

"Bella. What were you trying to do?" He managed to choke out. He sounded half strangled.

I looked away unable to answer him.

"Bella, look at me!" he ordered. He let go of my wrists and turned my head so I was facing him, eye to eye.

"I was trying to kill myself," I mumbled. Edward jumped off of the bed and walked over to the other side of the room.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Bella, do you have any idea what you would have put me through if you had died? Did you not even _think _of me? It was bad enough finding you, about to be raped, but seeing you dead..." His voice trailed off and he looked down at me.

His gaze was so forceful that I had no choice but to turn away again.

In fact, I hadn't thought of Edward at all when I tried to kill myself. I didn't seem to think that he would care about me, if I lived or died. To him, I should just be the annoying teenager who caused trouble.

But a tiny part of me hoped that he doesn't see me that way, as I would have liked to be more than that. But it was no use, no way would he fall for me. He was probably only being a bit protective so that he can get the men out of jail, I mean I was no use dead.

"Bella," he whispered. "Don't do it again. I don't want to lose you." I looked back up at him and vowed to do everything he said

"I won't," I promised. He seemed happier by my answer and again put his arms around me. I leaned my head on his shoulder and fell asleep; dreaming of a small town called forks, where Edward and I lived there, happily ever after.


	11. Decisions hurt

**Charlie's POV**

Bella still hasn't been found, meaining that she was yet again kidnapped or missing.

When the police had arrived on the scene, they were met by an old woman who told them what she had witnessed.

Apparently she had seen Bella run past her window with a boy following her with a gun raised. A minute later she heard a scream, so she went outside to investigate. Bella and the boy had come round a corner and walked past her house. He had his hand gripped around the top of her arm. The lady had called out to Bella, seeing if she was who she suspected she was. When Bella had confirmed she was a princess, the old women informed them the police were on their way. The boy replied that they were leaving the area and headed down the street towards what must be his car. The woman threw a brick at him, attempting to stop him from any further actions, and as a result, he let go of Bella. However, Bella ran into the road and got knocked down by a car.

Two men got out the car and there was an argument, between all three of them. One had picked up Bella and put her in the car and they all climbed in and sped away. The police arrived, only minutes later.

I knew from a gut feeling that she was back with them. If that were true there was only one option left. I picked up the phone and dialled the one number, I had hoped to never dial. It was to agree on something, which would enable me to get my precious daughter back.

**Bella's POV**

Edward was the best person in my life at this moment in time. He snuck extra -and nicer- food for me. I hadn't realised that they were practically starving me until Edward was brought me generous amounts of food that the rest of the workers eat.

He also supplied me book, for which I was grateful as I loved nothing more than books. I still vowed to do whatever I could to get out of here. Whatever it takes, but I wasn't willing to try now. I just wanted a tiny bit more time with Edward. Apart from Angela, I never had a proper friend before. And fortunately, recently, Edward had fit into that category.

It had been 3 days since Edward and I had revealed more about our feelings at life and our history. We had become ridiculously close; he was like my best friend, though I wished for something more, much more. Whenever he touched me, a fluttery feeling erupted in the pit of my stomach, and just hearing his voice would make me smile inwardly. But I couldn't forget his smile. Oh my God... _his smile_. In my opinion, it was the sexiest beam in the world. It was crooked, and it didn't look stupid as it would on most other men. It suited him well.

We were constantly teasing each other about random things. One of his favourites was my liking for certain books. For example, Wuthering Heights

"Why do you read that? The characters are horrible and don't forget the book in general," he said flipping through the pages.

"I like it. It's a classic, and also one of my favourites." I replied, turning into a defensive mode.

"Whatever you say," he said, smirking in a patronising way. I threw the book that I was currently reading (Pride and Prejudice) and it hit him on the head.

"Ow! That hurt!"

"Good." And I poked my tongue out at him.

"Oh, is that the way it's going to be then?" he said, laughing, and her picked me up and threw me over his shoulder.

"EDWARD! PUT ME DOWN!!" I screamed, kicking and punching his back, also laughing. He set me back down onto the floor breathless from laughter.

"Thank you, but you're going to regret that you know," I said breathlessly.

"Yeah sure I will, what is a small girl going to do to _me?"_

"You will see soon."

Footsteps down the hallway and the door opened, revealing Jasper. "I heard screaming?" He asked, looking from me to Edward suspiciously.

"Uh... I... Uh."

Edward didn't seem to come up with an excuse, forcing me to quickly come up with one on the spot.

"I thought I saw a mouse, but it was only a big dust ball."

"Hmm... Well keep it down its very late; some people are trying to sleep."

"Sorry." He turned and went out of the room, slamming the door in the process.

We both burst out laughing as soon as we were sure he was gone.

"Where did mouse come from?"

"Well, I was going to say spider, but mouse came out at the last second," I shrugged. "Anyway it's not like _you _came up with anything better!"

"True," he said with a smile.

I sat down on the bed and he followed me, putting his arm around my shoulder in the process. We talked for about ten minutes about anything that just sprang to our minds, and eventually I fell asleep.

Yet again I dreamt of America with Edward. Not to mention that it was the best dream I had had in a few months. In my dream, I had become best friends with a small girl, with black hair that was arranged like a halo around her head. A tall blonde also appeared in my dreams, but she seemed hazier whenever I looked at her, as though something was undecided.

Suddenly, I woke up and frowned. The first thing I noticed was that Edward wasn't here with me. I knew from eavesdropping that he wasn't allowed to leave me on my own, so where on earth was he then?

I noted that the door was ajar and the voices were coming from the hallway outside. I rose out of the cot, then pressing myself against the wall next to the door, I peeked around the corner. Jasper was telling Edward something, who in return, was looking very upset and angry, whilst continuously running his hands through his hair.

I listened to the news that made Edward troubled.

"Jared has just told me that the King has agreed to his demands. He wants to meet under the clock tower in 3 days in the middle of the night for the switch over."

"Does that mean Bella is going back home?"

"No. Jared wants to trick the police and bring the 5 men and Bella back, he wants more demands of the King in which he could use Bella for and when he has no other use for her. Kill her."

_Kill her_

I didn't want to hear anymore. They were eventually going to kill me. I think some part of my mind told me it was coming, but still, I didn't want to die yet. I still had a long life to live, hopefully with Edward.

I had to get out of here, fast.

I felt sick, so sick that it took every ounce of my will power not to be sick on the floor. I walked back to my bed and lay down facing the wall, hoping it would get rid of the nausea. It worked a little. Edward soon re-entered the room, so I pretended to be asleep.

He walked over to me and stroking my hair he whispered:

"Sleep well Bella, you're going to need it." And then walked to the arm chair he normally sleeps in, unless I fell asleep on him.

I couldn't believe that I was about to do this, leaving him again. It was the worst thing I could do to myself, and possibly him if he cared about me as much as I cared for him. I vowed to myself that I would come back to get him when it was safe for both of us, but I didn't know how long that would be. I could always tell him my plan and ask him to come with me, but I don't know about that. I was scared of what he would say and what he would do. What if he tried to stop me despite what he had said a few days ago?

No, I couldn't keep delaying this. It would happen sooner or later. I had to make my decision! And fast!

I waited until I could hear Edwards deep even breathing, then I knew it was the right time. I got up off my bed only pausing to wince when the mattress creaked. I crept over to Edward where he was dead to the world.

He looked like a Greek God or an angel, or even a mixture of both. His face was so pure; it made me ache to look at him, and the way I was about to hurt him. It also made me ache to think of the pain I was going to put _myself_ through by doing this.

I bent down next to him and lifted my hand towards his jeans pocket where I could see a lump, where his keys were. I put my hand into the pocket and curled my fist around the keys.

I took my hand out triumphantly with them and stood back up. Holding the keys carefully so that they wouldn't make a noise, I examined them and saw and key chain for a silver Volvo. That was a perfect car to use, fast and silent.

I smiled and then froze as I heard Edward stir in his sleep behind me. I turned around just as his eyes shot open, but then they quickly closed again. Thankfully though, he didn't see me. But a part of me was hoping it would, so that he would stop me and tell me to stay with him. Tears welled up in my eyes as I stood near the door looking back at my true love, who I probably never would see ever again.

I let one tear escape and then came another and then another until I was full out sobbing. I stifled my sobs muffling them as much as I possibly could.

"I love you Edward." I whispered and then opened the door into the hallway, which I ran down at full speed, keys in hand.


	12. Bright lights

**Bella's P****OV**

I ran down the hallway, on my now healed leg. I still couldn't believe that I was going to leave him, even though I was sure he would be fine. Maybe he would get shouted at for letting me go, but other than that he would be OK. He would someday become one of the leaders of the Mob like his brother, and organise dirty trade and things like that. He would be fine.

But it was me I wasn't so sure about. Sure, I would be safe inside my palace with my bodyguards and guards everywhere possible. I would be scared to leave the grounds; I would someday take up my duty as Queen. But inside, I would be empty.

I turned a corner and gasped at what I saw. Carlisle and Jasper were talking halfway down the hall and at the sound of my gasp; Carlisle looked up and saw me. I quickly ducked into the nearest room, hoping, that he wouldn't say anything. He had definitely seen me; there was no doubt about that.

After a few minutes, a pair of footsteps echoed down the hallway. They were either Jasper's or Carlisle's. I hoped it was the latter. The footsteps paused outside the door of the room I was hiding in; I held my breath as the door opened. I was hiding under a desk and I hoped that whoever the person was wouldn't think to check underneath the desks.

But it was just my luck.

Carlisle bent down and peered at me, curled into a small ball.

"Now Bella, what are you doing under there?" I sighed and got out from under the desk.

"Ok. Ok. You found me now, do your worst and take me back." His eyebrows crinkled in confusion.

"I'm not going to take you back Bella. Believe it or not but I am one of the few people around here who didn't think it was right to kidnap a fifteen year old girl." His words took me by surprise. I thought that everyone around here was evil, but no, some of them thought that what Jared was doing was wrong.

He sensed my confusion and smiled. "Not everyone here is as evil as you think. Now you need to get out of here as soon as possible because people will eventually find that you are gone."

He was helping me! Someone was actually helping me. I could almost jump up and dance, but how did I know that this wasn't a ploy.

"Bella, listen to me. This isn't a joke; just make sure you get home soon, because if you get caught you will probably be killed. Though that's what they want to do with you anyway. And then I will have to be the one to dispose of your body." His words bought back their plan and I felt sick again.

"Okay then. Where do I go to get to the car park?"

"Out of the door turn left and out the emergency exit at the end."

I turned to go out of the door. But Carlisle caught my arm and spun me around so that I was facing him.

"Oh, and Bella...Try not to get caught." He smiled sadly at me before letting me go.

I scowled as I ran out of the emergency exit, thinking hard. Luckily I came out into the car park which held about 30 cars. I spotted the silver Volvo almost immediately, and unfortunately it was at the back. _Is everything against me?_ I thought to myself as I jogged over to the car, _why was it so far away?_

I looked behind me, no one had discovered I was gone yet, and thankfully the window that faced the car park was closed with the blinds drawn.

I unlocked the car and climbed in. I know I'm a bit young to drive, but my Father said it was a necessity. So I managed to get my licence younger than the legal European age.

I put the keys in the ignition and turned on the engine. It purred underneath me as though it was raring to go. I would give the car its wish. I was determined to go as fast as the car would let me, so I could get back to Volterra as fast as I could.

I backed out of the car park just as people burst out of the doors. At a quick glance in the mirror, I saw Jared, Sam, Emmett and Edward all of which had guns raised apart from Edward. Edward was smiling as though he was happy that I was leaving. My heart throbbed painfully against my chest as I saw him. And it took all of my willpower not to cry. If I could have turned around and got him, then I would have, but if I did I would get caught again.

"Stop her!" Jared roared I could even hear it from all the way over her. "Shoot her!"I smiled to myself. There was no way they were going to catch me now.

I heard a few loud bangs which were obviously gun shots. But I was round the corner by then.

I drove at one-hundred mph along the highway, looking for signs for the nearest town or even more Volterra, though I doubted you would get signs this far out.

I sighed and turned on the radio, it was the news.

"Fifteen year old Princess Isabella Swan is still reported missing, despite people claiming to have seen her in the outskirts of..."

Frustrated, I turned off the radio. There was no point hearing about what I already knew.

I looked out the window to see a sign saying Volterra, next right. The right was immediately after the sign, so I literally had to skid on the road to get the corner before I passed it.

"It could have given you more of a warning." I grumbled to myself.

Every now and then, I would look in the mirror too see if anyone was following me. I sighed and let the relief flood over me. I was about fifteen minutes away from home, where I would be safe and could have a hot bath, not the cold showers I had been given lately.

Behind me, I heard a screech of a car and saw a beam of headlights. The car was red and gaining on me every second. No one would just do this to be a nuisance, unless it was...

Horror went through me, and I stepped on the gas, as I edged towards one-hundred and thirty mph and I knew that if I went any faster, I would most likely crash and die. But the car was still gaining on me. In the driver's seat, I saw Sam and Emmett, both with leering smiles on their faces.

I was only five minutes away. If I could make it to my secret gate, then I would be safe in about three.

By now, we were speeding through the streets of Volterra, and as I saw the wall in which my secret entrance was enclosed, I began to slow down. I knew this was dangerous as they were still gaining on me and we could crash. But I stopped outside the wall and dived out of the driver's seat. Emmett and Sam stopped only seconds after me, but I had already run through the gap which was hidden behind a long stretch of ivy.

I knew it wouldn't take them long to work out where I had gone, so I sprinted my way across the front lawn, only pausing to see Emmett and Sam just coming through the gap.

I was now about halfway across the grass, it was very big, and suddenly bright lights came on, shining in my face. Damn, I had forgotten about the night security.

Soldiers erupted from either side of the lawn with their guns pointing at me. They obviously couldn't recognise me from the brightness. I turned around to see Sam and Emmett retreat back through the gap, looking thoroughly pissed off. Well, they weren't going to be a problem, for now.

I looked back around at the guards who surrounded me, too scared to move in case they shot me. I know I should call out my name and identity, but my throat had locked up. I was home! I was finally home!

"Who are you? And why are you trespassing on my land!" I heard a familiar voice call. I turned to the side and I saw my Father walking towards me. He walked closer to me and in the end his face turned from anger to recognition.

"Dad," I exclaimed, and ran over to him- despite the guard's protests- and ran into his arms.

"Bella, oh Bella," he whispered. I hugged him tightly savouring the moment.

"Dad!" My voice choked up and I began crying into him. He hugged me tightly.

"Bella, Oh thank God you're safe. I have been out of my mind with worry."

"I'm sorry Dad, I always tried to get away, but they always caught back up with me."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Not now, I'm tired." And it was true; I could feel my eyes drooping.

My Father called for my bodyguards, Quil and Embry to take me to my room, for which I was thankful for. He told me we would talk in the morning and that I needed to see a doctor to be examined. But I wasn't really listening. The thought of snuggling in my soft warm bed made me smile.

In the end, Embry had to carry me to my bed, as my legs were beginning to buckle underneath me. He was a big guy and was only 19, the same age as my other body guard Quil, who was just as big as Embry. They were the kind of men that you wouldn't want to mess with.

They knew about the gap in the wall now and I shivered, thinking of what they could do and take if they were inside the palace grounds.

"Are you cold Isabella?" Embry asked, clearly concerned. He always called me by my full name, even though I had told him and Quil countless of times to call me Bella.

"No, I'm fine, just thinking of something."

We reached my room and Embry set me down on my bed, swiftly smiling at me before leaving my room and standing in his position outside it.

I sighed, I never got much conversation out of my body guards they just preferred to stay quiet and observe.

I got up off my bed and went into my attached bathroom. I needed a nice hot shower to wash of the terrible events that I had been through in the past few weeks.

I undressed and stepped into the steaming shower. The heat of the water relaxed my muscles a little, and I stayed that way for half an hour until I remember I needed to wash my hair.

I stepped out the shower and wrapped a towel securely around me. I put on my pyjamas (Cotton bottoms and a tank top) and paused to look around me briefly. Double checking no one was in here, though I knew that it was almost impossible.

I bent underneath my bed and pulled up a floor board where I kept all of my precious belongings. There amongst everything, was my periwinkle blue diary. I smiled and opened it. I missed it so much. I got out my favourite pen and wrote down every single detail about Edward, so that I wouldn't forget him. My thoughts about him, everything we had been through from fist sight to when we were joking around in the room. Even though it had only been a few hours since I had last seem him, it felt like an eternity.

When I was done, I got into bed and fell asleep, imagining Edward's arms around me and dreamt of the little town in America, however, this time it was more faded and not once did Edward appear in it. It was just me and the small pixie like girl.


	13. Pain hurts less than heartbreak

**Bella's POV**

It had been exactly a month since I had been back at the Palace. Every day and night, I dreamed about Edward. I thought about him in my daydreams, and in my real dreams. I thought about him whilst eating, or when I doing school work. Oh, how I wished I could go back for him, or him, come for me so we could run away together.

I often found myself dreaming about his face, his bronze hair, and his sparkling emerald eyes when he laughed and my favourite. And last but not least; his crooked smile.

I debated about telling my dad about Edward, but I always thought better of it. He would think I was crazy for falling in love with a Mafia man. Well, I _was_ crazy for falling in love with one of them. But still, Edward was different from the others I had met, with the exception of Carlisle.

I still dreamt about running away to America, but I didn't trust anyone to tell my plans. I suspected Angela a bit at first when I had gotten kidnapped. Who else knew my plans to run away? But after a while I realised that Angela was just the kind sweet person I had always known, nothing had changed there. Someone must have eavesdropped on us then, I knew that paparazzi where always creeping around, trying to find some Royal gossip which would make a good story.

The day after I returned, the first thing I did was have someone fill in the gap in the wall. My Father was furious when he found out that I was the one who had made it in the first place, as it was a serious security breach, but when I told him the reasons as to _why_ I wanted it filled in, he more than willingly obliged to my wishes.

Recently though, I begin jumping at every loud sound and flinched at certain peoples touch – usually men's. My Father and a few doctors put it down to the shock finally setting in, so every week now, I had to see a shrink to talk about my 'feelings and experiences'. God they were a waste of time, I had much better and interesting things to be getting on with.

_I was sitting on a sofa in a white room that was impossibly clean and organised, much too organised for a normal person. I frowned; I never thought that we had our own personal shrink inside the palace. Oh well, I was here now, so I might as well make the most of it._

"_Now dear," said the shrink in a sympathetic tone. I think her name was Sue. Sue Clearwater. "Do you know why you're here?"_

_I sighed, this, was going to be the longest hour of my entire life. Though there were going to be more meetings to come._

"_I'm here because my father sent me here against my will."_

"_Okay then dear. How do you _feel_ about that?" _

"_I feel that this is stupid and a waste of my valuable time." After that I refused to talk about anything that came remotely close to my encounter. I mean what was there to talk about? I had told my father everything important, leaving out about Edward. So I didn't see the need to spend my time talking about my own personal feelings to someone I barely knew._

In less than 4 months I would be turning 16, which meant that I would be old enough to be married off. My dad was already sorting out the party (ball) details and hinting that maybe it was time I get married to a prince. I always changed the subject when he brought it up. My heart throbbed against my chest when I thought of love. Edward, I sighed inwardly.

At the moment I was sitting on a bench in the garden by a small pond full of various fish. I watched them for a moment, reminiscing about how easy it would be if I was one of them. Fish lost their memory every few seconds, which meant that they never worried about anything. I wished that my life was that easy.

My bodyguards were with me. One was a few metres away, with another one further away, out of sight. I looked over to the wall that enclosed the palace. My father had refused to let me out of the grounds now, even with a bodyguard. I knew he was just being overprotective. Also he didn't want me to run away again. Not that I would want to leave the grounds just yet. I preferred being safe.

Of course, he was furious when he found out the _whole_ story about it being my choice to run away in the first place. I think he nearly locked me in my room and thrown away the key, imprisoning me until I was happy or could be trusted again.

I had nightmares nearly every night, the same one constantly. They consisted of Jared, Sam and the others coming back to get me, slaughtering me in the process. I woke up screaming and every time I did, my bodyguards would run in to check to see I wasn't being murdered.

And this was how I was going to be spending the rest of my life - revolving around nightmares and shrinks.

**Edwards POV**

I was standing inside Jared's office. All of my brothers lurked behind me, looking me over, clearly ashamed and disappointed. I also knew the exact reason as to why. I had let Bella escape.

When she had crept over to me I had been awake. Of course she didn't know that. I had let her escape just like I planned, and it successfully worked.

My last memory of her made me smile. She was looking at me in the rear view mirror of my car. Her eyes were lit up and she was nearly smiling. I think that it was the happiest I had ever seen her, which in return made me happy. Though there was a hole in my heart now that she had disappeared from my life.

I wanted so much to go with her. But I didn't. Because I know that if I did, my brothers would come looking for me. Jared always told me that my father had asked him to make sure I stayed here; he had his reasons but didn't tell anyone.

Anyway I was standing here, staring at Jared, who returned my look but with hatred and anger. His face turned nearly white, which was weird, as he had a russet skin tone compared to mine, Jaspers and Emmett's pale one.

"Do you have _any _idea how much effort we put into this mission?" He spat at me. I knew better to reply, so I opted for silence.

"We are now lost without bait! You have shamed us all by letting her go!"

I still didn't say anything. I knew I would deserve any pain I got now; I could almost sense it coming like a snake lying low in the grass waiting to pounce. It was almost like I could read his thoughts, though it wasn't hard to know what Jared was thinking at the moment. I mean it _was_ my fault that she escaped, but I couldn't just stand by and let them kill her. I know she heard Jasper talking to me about what would happen in her future, as I heard her gasp from behind the door. I knew from that moment that I loved her, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to her. Thus, I gave her a chance, no matter how risky it was. If I tried to help her, I would probably be shot, which wouldn't help her position.

"SAY SOMETHING!"

"Well there's nothing to say. You've said it all."

"YOU ARE A STUPID BOY! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW? WE NEEDED THOSE 5 MEN FOR OUR NEXT MISSION!"

So, I guess I deserved what happened next. Jared stomped around his desk, lifted his fist, swung it back and then punched me straight in the nose.

"Shit!"I cursed, as I felt the warm blood rushing out of my nose as I lay on the carpet. His blow had knocked me down to the floor. Luckily though, the carpet was red or there would have been a massive blood stain on the floor. I didn't get up; I couldn't find any strength to do so. Eventually, they all left the room with Jared taking good care to stand on my hand on the way out, and Jasper looking at me briefly his eyes full of pity.

I wasn't going to lie and say I was fine, because I wasn't; I was doomed to live my life like this now. I had lost my love and I was in a great amount of pain. Because of the nose, and also because my hand was screaming at me due to the fact that Jared was a big and a heavy guy.

I was hurting all over, especially my heart. I needed Bella to know the way I feel about her, I couldn't live with myself, knowing that I hadn't told her the way I feel, particularly that I wouldn't see her again made it even worse. But there was no way I would be able to find a way to see her. I knew that I would be arrested as soon as I came within seeing distance of the palace, and I really didn't want to spend my life in jail.

I sighed and got up trying to think of a resolution, when my eyes lay upon stationary and envelopes, scattered across the wooden desk along with a few pens and stamps.

I know what I was going to do.

I was going to write her a letter.

**Bella's POV**

Days had gone by and those days turned into weeks, and I was surviving my life with no emotion. My father thought I was just having the after mouth of being kidnapped. But I knew better.

The truth was I felt depressed without Edward. I never got a chance to tell him how I feel, and I regretted nothing more than that now. Why does my life have to be so complicated? Yet again, I wished that I was a normal teenager, so that Edward and I could be together without any complications. It would make both of our lives so much easier. But I didn't even know what Edward felt about me. I shouldn't be fantasizing about what will never happen; it's never good to get your hopes up, no matter how unreal they may be.

Recently I had taken to walking around the palace - shadowed by my bodyguards - lifelessly. I answered when spoken to but I had none of my old spark left within me. Angela always looked at me with concern and pity, but I knew that she thought that I was still scared. Well, I _was_ still scared, but mostly I was just feeling lost and empty without Edward.

I sighed again, thinking of Edward and made my way to the breakfast room. However, I was stopped on the way by one of the butlers.

"Miss Swan, a letter has just recently arrived for you." He said, holding out a sealed envelope. The envelope was a deep blood red and the address was written on it perfectly, in beautiful black ink. I put it in my pocket so I could read it later in private. I got hundreds of letters every day, most of them fan mail, but somehow this one had gotten past the stages of reading and junk mail, so I assumed it was special. But usually my letters always were opened before, but this one was still preserved.

"Thank you," I said, smiling at the butler. I didn't know his name as they always come and go every month, and in the end it was too much of a bother to remember each and every one of their names, which I guess was a bit lazy of me. Maybe I will try to in the future...

I eat my breakfast, which consisted of toast and fruit, then went back up to my chamber. I closed the door, thankful to be finally on my own again and jumped onto my bed. The envelope fell out of my pocket onto the floor. Oh, I had almost forgotten about that.

I opened the envelope and a letter dropped out, again with the same perfect handwriting. I frowned; I wasn't expecting a letter from anyone. I had no friends that would write to me and I had never even met my mother. So who could it be?

I unfolded the letter and began reading.

_My dearest Bella,_

_I am glad that you are home now. I have never felt so relieved in my life, and it made me happy the way your eyes sparkled when you turned around that corner in my car. You are probably home reading this, enjoying your life, but I couldn't let you go without telling you._

_Isabella Swan, I may not see you ever again, but I want you to know that with all of my life and heart I am unconditionally and irrevocably in love with you._

_I know the feelings are not mutual but I couldn't let you leave without you knowing that I love you. _

_The way you smiled, it made my heart explode with happiness. The way your hair shined and swung when you moved across the room. The way your voice tinkled when you laugh. All of that and many more are the great qualities that you possess, and have made me the happiest man alive._

_I regret so much not going with you to America now. I can see what I've lost and it has made my heart fill with hurt and sorrow. But there is no turning back the clock now, no matter how much I could, it is too late._

_But the few weeks that I have spent with you have no doubt been the best of my entire life. I will never forget the few days in which we laughed and joked around like we were best friends, even though I felt much more than that. I always felt protective of you, and even now with your bodyguards with you I still worry about your safety more than anything else._

_When you ran away at first my heart nearly stopped beating. A young girl aged 15, on her own at night in an area like that. It made me want to scream out loud, something might have happened to you._

_As you know, it did. But luckily I found you before they could do any proper damage. And then later on in the same night, when you jumped in front of that car, it wasn't going reasonably fast, but it would have hurt if you landed on the road at that speed. _

_The car just stopped in time but I still feared for your life. _

_Then at night when you fell asleep on me, I just wanted to hold you forever and never let you go. You would always blush when you woke up to find your head next to mine. But it was nothing to be ashamed of. I enjoyed the look of your blush against the creamy silky skin on your face._

_My brothers aren't telling me a thing of what they are going to do next. It's my punishment for letting you escape. So I cannot tell you if they are going to come and get you. Though I very highly doubt it, you're too highly protected._

_I can tell you this though. There is a spy within your walls. Only Jared knows who it is, but don't trust anyone, you could be betrayed._

_I hope you live well my dearest Bella._

_My whole heart, life and love,_

_Edward x_

As soon as I finished those last words, I fell to the floor crying. Salty tears pouring down my face, and staining the letter. I vowed to keep this letter safe; it was my only reminder of Edward and the only proof I had that he loved me.

And I had let him go. I lay on the floor clutching my chest to hold myself together. I felt as though my insides were tearing apart, making me shatter into pieces.

_I love you Edward_, I thought desperately, before I cried out despairingly.


	14. This shouldn't happen

**Bella's POV**

I read Edwards letter every day. More than once, I could probably recite it out loud by now, but reading it in his handwriting made it more comforting to me. I wish there was a way I could contact him back, but he hadn't left an address and there was no way I was going to find him at the moment.

"Ugh!" I moaned to myself as I lay on my bed. I glanced at the clock, only five more minutes until lunch. Normally I didn't eat lunch with my Father, but today he insisted. I sighed and got up, I was better off waiting in the dining area than here.

I opened my door, the letter in my pocket -I carried it around everywhere with me now- and walked down the many corridors as always, shadowed by my bodyguards and into the lunch room.

I thought it would be empty, but I entered to find my dad talking to a beautiful woman. I stared at her confused, as she turned to look at me still smiling.

"Ah, Isabella, sit down." My Father said. He was using my full name, so whoever this woman was, she must be important. I pulled out the chair next to him and sat down. I was facing the lady.

"Isabella." My Father started, I gave him a glare. He knew how much I hated Isabella.

"Okay Bella then. This is Renee." He gestured towards the woman sitting in front of me. On a closer inspection she had clear pale skin like me, her eyes were a bright blue and they sparkled, her lips were full and red and she had the same shade of brown hair as me. I took a gulp of my lemonade.

"She is your mother," he continued.

"WHAT?" I shouted, as I spat my lemonade out. Unfortunately, it hit Renee. Oh, I mean my mother.

"Oh my God, I am so, so sorry." I said as I sprang up and grabbed napkins dabbing away at her dress.

"No it's fine dear, sit down." I looked at her in disbelief; I had probably ruined her dress now. "Honestly I'm fine." Still unconvinced, I sat back down.

"A bit of a warning might have been nice." I said to my Father

He sighed. "I'm sorry Bella. It's just that ever since you came back, you have been acting so down." I thought of Edward with a pang in my heart. "And I thought it might do you some good to spend some time with your Mother." Mother- that word would take some getting used too. "I called her and she agreed to come immediately." He paused as if hoping for a dramatic effect. "And take you back to America with her."

My head shot up, surprised. My own Father was telling me that going to America would be good for me.

"It is only for a few years though, until you're ready to take the crown." Oh great, so I was still going to have to be Queen. Well you can't have everything I suppose. And anyway, if I went to America I could go to a normal high school, have normal friends, go shopping at malls without being mobbed or pushed out of people's way by security. The rest of my teenage years would be perfect.

But also, if I leave to go to America with my Mother- The same person I had been waiting all my life for- I would be leaving Edward even further away.

All this thinking was giving me a headache.

"Can I sleep on it?" I asked my Father. I must be crazy before I met Edward I would have jumped to this opportunity, but now, I'm not so sure.

"Yes, of course you can. Now why don't you have a walk with your Mother, so you two can get to know each other better?" I smiled and got up at the same time as Renee did.

We decided to go for a walk in the gardens.

"So, where have you been all my life then?" I thought I sounded a bit rude, but even if I did, Renee didn't comment on it. I couldn't call her Mother just yet, it didn't feel right.

"I don't want to start any arguments with your Father, but Charlie wouldn't let me see you. I didn't want to be on the throne, I wanted to go out and explore the big world. Your Father wouldn't let me take you with me, or I would have kept you in a heartbeat. There was a whole court case on it actually- private though, you were too young to remember for it. In the end your Father won as he argued that you were the heir to the throne and that you had to stay in Italy to learn your duty. I am so sorry. I had come to see you over the years, but I wasn't allowed through the gates."

I looked at her and tears were beginning to form in her eyes. I put my arm on her back soothing her.

"When your dad called me two days ago to explain the situation, I was so scared and shocked. Your kidnapping hadn't appeared on the news in America, so I didn't know what went on. Naturally, I got the first flight here to find that I had a beautiful teenage daughter." She smiled up at me and wiped away her tears.

"Now why don't you tell me about yourself?" I sighed, I hated talking about myself, and it was boring.

"Well there's nothing interesting about me. My life has just been boring just doing whatever I'm being told to do."

"Okay, who is he?" Renee asked.

My head shot up. How could she have known?

"W-w-what?" I stammered.

"Sweetie, you have all the signs of love depression." (**A/N does that even exist? :P )**

Was it safe to tell her? She _was_ my Mother after all; she didn't seem like my Father, who would think I was a lunatic for falling in love with someone from the Mafia. But what if she also ranted at me and told me the dangers about it? I wished that Edward was just a normal boy that I could tell my own Mother about. But unfortunately, he wasn't.

Thinking about him made my heart ache. Well, I better get used to it, because I wasn't going to be seeing him any time soon now. So in the end I decided to tell her later on when I was sure that I could completely trust her not to tell my Father.

"Um, I'm still not completely over it. Can we talk about it another time? And also can you not tell my Father?" I said, and she seemed to understand my pain, as she smiled sympathetically at me.

"I'm sorry about not giving you a straight answer about America yet. Can you give me a few days to think it out?" Well to work out a way to get in contact with or see Edward.

"Of course, take as much time as you need."

"Thanks," I muttered.

I spent the rest of the day with Renee. We were so much alike. We both shared dislikes for pressure and tied down, we both loved freedom and shoes. She nearly even had the same laugh as me, though I'm sure hers was more beautiful as it seemed to tinkle like wind chimes.

I swear my Father seemed kind of intimidated by Renee, as though she could put him in line if she wanted too. It was quite funny to see the way they acted around each other.

It was the most fun I had in ages. I looked forward tomorrow where we would spend the day shopping. The mall was going to be closed off just for us. My Father seemed rather reluctant to let me, out but Renee persuaded him that I needed some new scenery, and he agreed, but added extra security for us. Well rather for me more than Renee.

I had been such a long day, that later on when I went to sleep with my clothes still on, and for the first time in weeks I dreamt nothing. It was a nice change from the nightmares.

**Edwards POV**

I was walking out of the dining area, when I saw all of my brothers go out of the building and heading towards a black van. I frowned. Where would they all be going at this time? So I decided to follow them.

I walked up to Jasper who was the nearest.

"Where are you all going?"

"We are all going out for a few hours."

"Can I come?"

"No." I sighed, they had all been like this towards me, secretive and distant. I walked away, I guess that it looked like I was just going to have to wait until when they got back to see what was going on.

But what I didn't realise that to my horror they were going out to get something that I didn't want to come back here at all.

**Bella's POV**

I was pulled away from my slumber, to the sound of murmuring voices in my room. I heard the door swing shut and someone telling somebody else to shut up. I frowned, maybe I was just dreaming, I mean who would be in my room at this time of night?

Maybe it was Renee or Charlie coming to check on me, or maybe it was Angela, coming to leave something for me, or maybe I _had_ screamed in my sleep and just hadn't realised it, and my guards had come in to see I was okay.

I sighed and rolled over in my bed. I hadn't even bothered to open my eyes to see who it was. It wasn't like I was in any danger here, was it?

A pair of arms grabbed me and turned me over. Who was this? My bodyguards would never handle me like this?

My eyes flew open wide to find a man I hoped I would never see again, leering over me. Emmett

I screamed as loud as I could, hoping my bodyguards would rush in and save me, but my mouth was met with this sweet smelling rag.

I recognised it. It was the same stuff they had used to kidnap me last time. It made you unconscious.

_Don't breathe Bella,_ I told myself. _If you do you will fall asleep and they will get you._

But I needed to breathe. My lungs were going to burst open and I felt light-headed, not from the rag but also from the lack of oxygen.

"Your bodyguards aren't going to be able to save you Bella. They're on our side." Emmett sneered at me.

I was on the verge of unconsciousness when Emmett shouted behind me.

"She's not breathing it in, inject her."

Inject me with what? I _loathed_ needles.

I must have been blessed with superman powers, because I yanked Emmett's arms off of me and ran towards to door. I opened it, hoping to yell out to draw someone's attention to me, but I was yanked back into my room by a different pair of arms as they wrapped around my waist.

"Let me go!" I yelled, kicking and lashing out with my arms and legs, until my eyes fell onto the person I was closest to in the world.

Angela.

"Angela, you traitor," I whispered. However, my words didn't seem to bother her as she just shrugged. Well she wasn't going to be any help.

"Shut up!" The person holding me growled and clamped his hand over my mouth still keeping one wrapped around my waist. I recognised the voice –Sam's. Jasper walked towards me brandishing a syringe.

I kicked out at him hoping to warn him not to come any closer. But I was met with the stabbing at the top of my arm with the needle.

Immediately, I felt lethargic, and felt my eyes began to drop.

My vision blurred and I saw Emmett smiling at me.

"I hate you." I said, my voice sounding drunk and slurred.

"Get in line." He replied with a bark like laugh.

And then I let the darkness overtake me.


	15. Unspoken words

**Bella's POV**

The bump of tires on an uneven road slowly brought me back to my senses. It only took me a few seconds to remember what had happened, and soon enough I opened my eyes to pitch black. I must be in the back of a van somewhere.

I groaned and rolled onto my front and pushed myself up so that I was leaning against the wall of the van. I strained my eyes to see if I could see anything.

I couldn't see anything.

"Finally, you're awake. I thought that I had over done it with the drugs," said a voice from the other side of the van. A torch came on, shining on my face. Instinctively I put my hands up, shielding my eyes.

Through the gaps in my fingers, I saw who the person was: Jasper.

"Sorry," he muttered and lowered the torch.

"Thanks." I replied then the van went silent. For the next 10 minutes I drowned myself in misery. I wasn't happy at home and I wasn't happy going back. Was I ever going to be happy, or if not, at least not miserable. The only thought that made me hopeful was Edward. I get to see Edward again. That thought alone nearly made me jump up with joy.

"I know," said Jasper from the other side of the vehicle. I stared in his general direction confused. What on Earth was he on about?

"You know what?" I said, confusion written all over me.

"I know about you and Edward." As soon as he voiced those few words, I froze, he knew. Oh no, oh no. This wasn't good.

"W-what do you mean?" I replied, trying to be conspicuous.

"That. I can see it all over your face and his face most of the time. Since you have been gone, Edward has been moody, sad, upset and depressed. You two love each other." I bit down on my lip, not wanting to give anything away.

"Why do you care so much anyway?" I snapped back. He smiled at me and put his hands behind his head and leant back.

"I don't."

"Then what's with the twenty questions then?" I knew, I shouldn't be this cheeky, there probably would be consequences now, but I was way too past caring.

But he didn't answer; I scowled and leant my head back closing my eyes, thinking of Edward and his dazzling green eyes...

However, it only seemed seconds later when the van doors were opened, shining sunlight into my face. It took me a few moments for my eyes to adjust to the new found light as they were accustomed to the darkness.

"Get out." A voice growled, grabbing my arm and pulling me out of the doors, so that I had no choice but to obey. I stumbled out the van, somehow managing to regain my balance before I fell. Sam then pulled my arm towards the building, walking with strides so long that I had to run to keep up with them. My arms felt like they were going to pop out of my shoulders, from the pressure Sam was putting on them.

I was more than glad when we got inside; the light was hurting my eyes. I hadn't been this out in the open for ages, the enclosed walls of the palace gardens had blocked out most of the sunlight.

When it felt that my arm was ready to snap off, I decided to voice my opinion.

"Could you slacken the grip? You're hurting me!" I complained. I hadn't expected him to reply to me, but I had hoped that he would be a tiny winy bit nice, but obviously not. Instead he pulled me harder. I resisted the urge to slap his arm, or the urge to cry out, but instead I just pressed my mouth into a tight line and bore it.

I tried to memorise the corridors to distract me from the excruciating pain in my arm, due to the lack of circulation, in case I ever got the unlikely chance to escape again. _Left, left, right, left, right... _and so on. In the end I gave up, it was no use, even if I did manage to escape; I wouldn't go for the main door.

Every open door we passed, I managed to glimpse in, hoping to see Edward's face. But he was nowhere to be found. I let Sam drag me along and we rounded a sharp corner and ran into _him_.

"Edward," I whispered, so quietly that only I could hear it. He took in Sam's big figure, and then his eyes fell to mine. When our gazes locked, his eyes turned to agony. Even his face showed it. I shifted my gaze to the floor, guilty by the fact I had let them catch me again. I hoped Edward would forgive me for it, I had promised myself that I would stay safe. _Just for him._

I lifted my head back up and Edwards gaze wasn't on me, it was now on Sam.

"What is going on here?" Edward demanded. My heart fluttered when I heard his soft velvet voice, even if it was filled with anger, it still sounded like music to my ears, the only bit of hope I had left in this place.

"That is none of your business." Sam retorted, letting go of my arm to push Edward out the way. He stood his ground when Sam tried to get past him and stepped in front of us blocking our way. I rubbed the top of my arm, where Sam had clasped his steel grip around it, positive that I would have a bruise there in the morning.

Edward sighed, clearly frustrated. "Why is _she_ back here? I thought we were clean of her." I winced at the malice in his voice, and I told myself that he was just acting in front of Sam. I knew from experience that Edward would never talk to me like that.

Sam scowled, realising that Edward wasn't going to let him past without a reasonable explanation. He easily could've moved Edward out the way, but he didn't look like he was in the mood for even trying.

"Jared needs his demands met with, so he came up with a plan to get her back. It obviously worked or she wouldn't be standing here right in front of your two eyes. Are you happy now?"

Edward frowned clearly not thrilled with that answer. "Why wasn't I included in this?" he demanded

"Jared doesn't trust you anymore; after all you let her get away in the first place." I saw Edward wince at the words _he doesn't trust you anymore_, and all I wanted to do was wrap my arms around his waist and comfort him. But that was the impossible.

Sam took this distraction and shoved past Edward, with me in tow. I turned my head back around as I let Sam drag me along to see Edward staring intently at me. When he saw me looking at him he smiled and mouthed _I love you._

His smile made me smile and I mouthed back to him _I love you too._ And as he saw my lips move, his face broke into the happiest but saddest crooked smile I have ever seen.

**Jared's POV**

I sat in my office, tired again from all of the planning I had been doing lately. Well, at least another weight has been taken off my shoulders now I know that the girl is within my clutches yet again. So, now there was only one thing left I really had to do.

I picked up the phone which was lying on the desk next to me and dialled a number, which I had gotten familiar with over the last few weeks. It was the King's.

I couldn't wait for him to answer I hoped his voice strained with worry, anger and grief. We had managed to kidnap her again, right in the middle of his precious palace. He was probably wondering who the traitor was, or in this case _traitors. _I chuckled at the thought of the King trying to find out who it was. There were just too many of them in the palace to keep a track of and all of them had clean records, nothing mentioned about being involved with us.

I smiled as he finally answered the phone.

"Don't _worry King _your little princess, if safe. For now" I spoke into the phone, laughing as I thought of his pained face.

**Charlie's POV**

When I heard _his_ voice on the phone, my blood boiled with anger. He managed to get her again, right from under my nose.

I pressed the phone against my chest and whispered to the secret police who were sitting right beside me.

"Trace the call!"I demanded. They nodded and got onto it. I put the phone back against my ear and listened to all of his demands. Of course, I would never just give into them, without trying to get Bella back first.

Just as he was about to hang up, I saw a sign flash up at the corner of my eye on a piece of blank paper. It was one of the secret police who were working with me.

The sign said: _We successfully traced it._

I smiled and hung up the phone, knowing that in a few hours Bella would be back home, ready to go to America with my only love, and her mother Renee.


	16. Moving

**Bella's POV**

Edward wasn't allowed anywhere near me now, _Jasper_ made sure of that. So, instead of Edward, I had Jasper guarding me all the time. I guess he wasn't that bad. At least he doesn't bash me around like Sam would've done, but Jasper just sat there either reading old war books from the 1800's or watching me. It was quite boring to be frank and don't forget annoying. If I couldn't have Edward with me, I would rather it be Jasper then. Just thinking about what Sam would do if he was the one with me, made me shiver and feel slightly nauseated.

I don't know what the time is at the moment, so I assumed that it was late as I was beginning to feel very lethargic. Jasper was sitting on his chair on the other side of the room from where I was on the bed and he was beginning to doze off. I wish I could, but every time I closed my eyes, I would experience nightmares of me being killed (of which I woke up screaming just as I was about to die), which would eventually happen if I stayed here and let them go through with their plan.

But if I ever had the chance to escape, I would make sure to take Edward with me this time, the only problem now is _how_ we are going to do it. Edward wasn't allowed see me as he had let me go last time, and Jared didn't want to risk losing me again, which was a shame, as, if Edward was the one guarding me, we would have been long gone by now. I felt a pang in my heart just at the thought of the life me and Edward could possibly have had, if only he had told me his feelings sooner, then we could have escaped _together_.

I sighed and rested my head on my knees. Currently I was sitting on the mattress with my back against the wall, my arms wrapped around my knee. By this time Jasper was asleep and snoring gently. If I wasn't so in love with Edward, I would have said that Jasper looks like an angel when he sleeps. I chuckled to myself as I watched him sleep.

_Great Bella, _I thought,_ now you're laughing to yourself, you must be going mad._ I rolled my eyes at the voice in my head, and concluded that I probably _was_ going to go mad from lack of communication.

Maybe sitting like this wasn't the best position for sleep. So I lay on my side and curled into a ball on the thin lumpy mattress and willed for sleep to come.

But it didn't answer my calls and for the next hour I had to endure Jaspers light snoring and staring at the same boring plain grey walls. As the minutes went on, the temperature gradually decreased, so I wrapped my arms around me trying to insulate my body heat, and shivered.

_I wish there was heating in here,_ I mentally complained to myself, but I learnt that if you wish for something it never came so I put up with it. I closed my eyes and tried to ignore the chill, there was a thin blanket at the foot of the bed, however, when I draped it over me it wasn't warm at all, but I left it anyway, it might help, even if it was only a little bit.

I clamped my eyes shut and relaxed my body so that sleep would come invade me easier, than if I was all tensed up and afraid. After ten minutes of this exercise I could gladly say that it worked and I fell into a light sleep, even if it wasn't proper sleep, I was still glad for it and embraced it as well as I possibly could.

Images flashed through my mind, each lingering for a few seconds, though in my dreams it felt like minutes, sometimes even hours. First came a gun along with a bang from the gun erupting. Next, Edward and I were on a plane to some unknown destination, and after came a Romeo and Juliet play I had once seen at the theatre a few years back. And lastly Jared and his family all were staring at me and Edward with disapproval, then Jared got out his gun pointed it at us and then...

BANG!

My eyes flew open in shock, I thought that the bang had come from my dreams, but obviously not as it had woken Jasper up as well. He jumped out of his seat and looked around frowning.

"Stay here," he ordered and left the room, only to return seconds later looking anxious, stressed and worried. A second crash erupted again, and I concluded that it was on the other side of the building from us.

"What's going on?" I asked, but he shook his head, telling me silently that he wouldn't answer my question just yet. Instead he grabbed the top of my arm and yanked me out of the room. At the end of the corridor smoke was billowing around the corner, so I pulled the sleeve of my free arm over my hand and then put it too my face to stop the smoke getting into my mouth and through my nose. Jasper did the same.

I could hear swears and shouts of people on the other side of the building, and they were getting closer, but Jasper yanked me down the corridor away from them and out of a back door exit.

When we got outside I took my hand away from my face, immediately gasping for clean, fresh air, but I wasn't allowed enough time to grab my breath, as Jasper yanked me towards the mass of trees that surrounded most of the building.

Running through the soil, mud and trees, I kept asking Jasper what was going on, but he just replied with a shake of his head and continuously dragging me on.

In the distance behind us, people were still shouting and gun fire could still be heard. Maybe the police finally found out where the Mafia base was, or hopefully there was a gang shooting going on and Jared and Sam got shot – though I shouldn't get my hopes up in cases like these. The last one seemed less likely, but in cases like this you never know.

We entered into a clearing, at which on the other side there was a dirt track, leading either further in or out of the forest. In the centre of the space there were a few cars, along with Edward, Jared, Emmett and a few others who I had never seen before and thus I could not name. They were all looking worried and angry, with Jared's face showing the worst of those emotions. Jasper pulled me over to them and upon hearing us arrive into the clearing, Edward looked at me.

Though he could not smile at me openly, in fear of anyone seeing, his eyes showed it.

Jasper looked around, calculating who was there and who wasn't, and asked the questions which I also wanted to know. "Where's Sam?" he inquired, frowning.

Jared looked up glaring at Jasper, even though he had done nothing wrong. He probably just wanting to take his anger out on someone I concluded. Man, that guy needs anger management. "He got arrested by the police, he was on the side of the building which they forced themselves into."

My eyes didn't light up with hope as they would've done if the police had arrived last time I was with the Mafia. I was unhappy at home and I had no intentions whatsoever of returning back without Edward.

Jared continued what he was saying. "Looks like the King has been having our calls traced and they found out where we and his little princess," he pointed at me, "over there are."

I rolled my eyes at him and turned away, instead to look at Edward, who wasn't returning my penetrating look, but looking at Jared. Jared looked at his watch. "Looks like no one else is going to show up then, we might as well get moving then." He turned to the three unknown people and said, "Take the black Mercedes we will meet you at base 12." The three men nodded and climbed into the car before speeding down the dirt track.

"Jasper, you and Edward will ride in the Volvo with little princess." I scowled, I despised the new nickname. And I wasn't even little; I was nearly 16 and 5 ft 4! Sighing, I followed Jasper and Edward to the Volvo. Edward got in the passenger seat and Jasper emerged from the glove compartment, waving a blindfold in my face. I sighed; I knew what was coming next. I was going to spend the journey with a blindfold over my face so that I wouldn't know the location of the new base. I kept silent as Jasper put it over my face and led me towards the car.

I assumed that Jared and Emmett had taken the Audi, as I heard the tires screeching as they let the clearing. _I wonder how many bases they have,_ I mused silently to myself, I had already lost count on how many I had been captive at so far. No doubt there would be more of them to come in the near future. Jasper helped me into the car and strapped me in. I didn't struggle like I used too. What was the point of running away from the one person I wanted to be with the most?

For the next ten minutes we all sat in silence until Edward spoke up. "How long will it take to get there?"

"I don't know. A few hours maybe, if we're lucky." Jasper responded and then it went into an awkward silence again. Someone turned the radio on, and switched stations until a classic one came on. I recognised the piece of music instantly. Claire de Lune. I smiled to myself and began humming the melody, too quietly for anyone to hear.

"Christ Edward! Can't you listen to some _decent_ music for a change?" Jasper exclaimed, sounding annoyed. I guess it figures that it was Edward; I wouldn't have put Jasper down for a classical music person. The radio again changed and a station with chart music came on. I hardly recognised any of it it, as when I was at home I didn't listen to recent music that much. The music became so tasteless that I actually started to doze off, only to jump back awake by a cough or a few words said by someone.

However, in the end I went to sleep without any interruptions, and dreamt of nothing. Maybe this was how my future would end up if I stayed within the Mafias clutches much longer.

The car tires began to slow down, and I slowly came to my senses. Though I couldn't see, I doubted that we were here long. I had only just dozed off, and also we had only been travelling about half an hour. Surely they wouldn't have new headquarters within an hour of another?

"I'm just going to go to the toilet," Jasper said, answering my question as though he could read my mind. I heard him exit the car and slamming the door behind him.

"Bella?" Edward asked, checking that I was awake.

"Yes?" I replied, trying to contain my excitement that we managed to be alone, even if it was for a few minutes.

"We'll find a way out of this. I promise," he said fiercely and determined.

"I know you will, I trust you." It went silent again.

"Bella," he said again and before I could reply he carried on. I love you more than anything in the universe. You know that don't you."

"Yes, and I love you more than that, if it's possible." I even giggled at how cheesy we sounded, at which he joined in as well. The car door opened again, signalling that Jasper was back. We fell silent immediately and for the continuation of the journey. The only sound came from out breathing and the music blasting through the radio speakers.

**Jared's POV**

This time I took the necessary precautions and checked that this phone call would be untraceable, and then I dialled the King's number again.

I heard an intake of breath as he answered the phone.

"You thought that your little princess would be safe by now?" I said, laughing into the phone at how stupid he could be. "Well, I didn't appreciate you barging in like that." I paused for effect to see if he answered. From which he didn't.

"But fortunately for you I am in a good mood today, and the deal is still on for tomorrow. So I want to see those men and my brother at the time and place we arranged."

"And if I'm not there?" he asked sharply down the phone.

"Well, if you aren't there? Your precious daughter will never see living daylight ever again. And that's a promise." I slammed the phone down, and reminisced at how smoothly this is running. Soon I will have everything that I need.


	17. Like a film

**Bella's POV**

This new place wasn't any better than the last. In fact, I would say it was worse. Apparently I wasn't the only one to think so. Emmett had taken to visiting me and Jasper in my 'prison' and whenever he came he was always brought complaints about something or other.

It varied from the quality of food.

"_The food here sucks. I wish the cook hadn't been caught in the raid, now I have to cook for myself." I smiled whenever he complained about this, because I was a good cook but I didn't need tell him that. It is better to make him suffer. However, my smile always earned me a few dirty glares from him._

To having to take me all the way back to Volterra for the 'switch over' later tonight.

"_I don't see why Jared made us come to _this_ base; it's a three hour drive back to Volterra tonight, a waste of time if you ask me. There are bases closer than this one, and considerably nicer."_

I felt sorry for Jasper as he was the one who had to endure all of this ranting. He usually just sat there and nodded politely while Emmett babbled on. However, one he lost his patience with Emmett. For which I was glad for, as I didn't want to be the first one to explode.

"Emmett! SHUT UP! No one cares!" This, of course, caused Emmett to leave the room, grumbling something about inconsiderate people on the way out. I had to bite my lip from laughing throughout this episode, it was really funny but I didn't want to earn a slap from one small giggle, so I forced mashed my lips together in order to stay quiet.

After a while, Jasper tried to make a conversation with me, assuring me that everything would be okay, that I would be home soon. But I knew better. He didn't know that I knew that they were planning to steal me back at the last moment.

"Bella, just think in twelve hours you will safe at home, no need to worry about this again." I bit my tongue, Jasper knew that I didn't want to leave, but he just kept going on about it. Anyway it wasn't like I was leaving anyway. Was it? The more time I spend here, the higher the chance that Edward and I will manage to get away from here together.

In the end however, I couldn't take it anymore of Jasper trying to force false hope inside of me, it was giving me a headache and also making me feel sick. So in the end I snapped.

"Jasper, I _know_ the plan! So _STOP_ trying to fill me with hope! It's not working." He frowned at me.

"How do you know?" he asked sharply.

"I eavesdropped when you and Edward were talking about it, just before I escaped." I admitted, with nonchalance. Jasper regarded me for a moment before looking away.

Thank _God_. That was _one_ conversation that I wasn't required to finish. I closed my eyes and rubbed my temples, soothing my pounding head and preparing myself for what was going to follow. At the moment, my greatest fear was that something would go wrong and someone I cared or didn't care about got shot.

Whatever happened, I was sure that tonight was going to be one of the worst nights of my life. How would they snatch me back? Was it even possible with all of the security that my Father will have placed?

Someone gently shook my shoulder, bringing me back to my senses. I guess that I must have dropped off sometime whilst I was thinking about tonight.

"It's time to go," Jasper said and I gulped, dreading what was about to come. He pulled me up by the arm and out into the corridor we went. When we reached the cars, I was very surprised to see Edward there. Again there were three cars, and yet again I got to ride with Jasper and Edward.

The only difference this time was that I wasn't blindfolded, which was always a plus.

Tonight, Edward was driving, and he kept stealing glances at me through the rear view mirror, of which I always glanced back. Jasper appeared oblivious to all of this, and instead just looked out the window into the night's cloak. The radio was switched off, due to the fact that everyone inside the car too tense and worried, as of what would happen tonight, if anyone made it out or not.

I hope I wasn't the one not to make it out alive, or even worse, taken home. I could just pray that everything worked out in favour of Jared, because at this moment in time I wanted nothing more than to be with Edward. If I went home now, I would be so heavily guarded that I would never see him again, let alone hear from him.

After a few minutes, during which Edward hadn't looked at me at all, I pressed my forehead against the cold window, trying to see whereabouts we were.

I strained my eyes, trying to see past the darkness, but all I saw was that we were somewhere in the country, where the houses were big and far apart, but as we drove along the road more, the houses ended up becoming smaller and more closely packed. The lane emerged into a two way road, and through the ugly pools of light from the street lights outside, I saw that we were approaching Volterra. I didn't recognise this area very well at all, but from my general knowledge, I knew that it would only be about another fifteen minutes until we reached the clock tower.

But the car only slowed down just after five minutes. I looked out the window and frowned. This wasn't the Volterra Clock tower, hell; this wasn't even the town square. What's going on?

The car came to a sudden halt and through the obscurity (there were no street lights around here) I could make out Jared, Emmett and a ten others leaning on the numerous cars that. Edward got out of our vehicle first and then held the door out for me, only to be roughly yanked by Jared towards himself. Jared kept a firm grip on my upper arm, as he looked around us all – well, minus me.

"You all know the plan?" He asked, looking around at the various people, as though daring anyone of them to say no.

"Good," he grumbled. "Let's get on with this then." I shivered from the cold, but also from the evil menace that lurked almost unknown within his voice.

_Be calm Bella,_ I told myself sternly. _They aren't going to hurt you; they _need_ you! _I tried to convince myself.

But what if their plan _did_ go wrong and I somehow ended up back at the palace with my Father. _If_ that did happen, there would be a _zero_ chance of ever seeing Edward again. Hopefully, if I just co-operated with Jared, then I should be able to stay with them for longer.

Anyone who read my mind, seeing that I planned to stay with the Mafia, must think I'm mad. So I let Jared drag me through the dark streets of Volterra, towards the clock tower, where my fate lies.

I was more than aware that Edward was standing next to me, our hands barely touching. I resisted the compelling urge to reach out and take his hand in mine, entwining our fingers, but someone would see and questions would be asked, so I battled with myself. Everyone walked in complete and utter silence, and every now and then one of the guys would walk into the odd alleyway. They were probably doing security checks or something I concluded.

But finally we came out into the square, across from the clock tower. In the middle stood the fountain, spurting out its never ending supply of water. And underneath the clock tower, stood my Father, who was surrounded by a large group of people. The men and the security guards, I figured out and recognised as we walked closer.

When we were within speaking distance, I spotted Sam who looked like he was very pissed off from being in prison, even if it was only for one or two days. But soon he would be back where he belongs.

We stopped and my Father stepped forward, signalling the security and Mafia prisoners to come follow suit. Soon we were all standing in a line, with Jared on one side of me (he still had his hand gripped on my arm) and Edward on the other side. And whenever I looked up at him, his face looked strained with worry, and his body was tense, which mimicked my own feelings.

My Father scanned my face to check if I was well and healthy. However, I didn't know what my face and my body looked like, because my Father looked up to Jared with disapproval and anger.

"Here, you have what you want! Now I demand that you return Isabella to me!"

Jared deliberated for a moment, obviously enjoying the fact that everything that happens would be under _his _power as long as I was within his clutches.

After my Father went through a few more agonizing moments, Jared finally nodded.

"They swap in the middle," Jared stated and my Father agreed with a quick bow of the head.

Jared let go of my arm and shoved me forwards. I shot one last desperate glance at Edward before I proceeded to the middle of the two groups.

The prisoners did the same, and with my eyes glued to my father I stalked forward.

But, if I walk too far, how would they be able to snatch me back? I wouldn't be within their reach, but instead my Fathers and I didn't want that at all! My heart pummelled to the floor. Their plan wasn't going to work, which would result with me being stuck in some crappy palace for the rest of my life. There was _no way _my father would let me go to America with my Mother, in fear of me being kidnapped again.

NO!

My pace slowed considerably and I could hear the impatient sighs of the men standing in front of me.

"HURRY UP!" I Jared's impatient bark erupted from behind me, so I jumped slightly into the air and quickened my steps.

By now I was in line with the prisoner men, all of them looking at me curiously apart from Sam, who was looking at me mischievously.

I didn't understand? Why is he looking at me in that way?

I brushed past Sam who was right at the back of the group when it all happened very fast. So fast, that I would not have seen it coming.

Two hands snaked around my waist from behind and I was pulled backwards. One hand left my waist and I looked up to see a gun being flown through the air caught by that very same hand. The gun was the brought to my temple and I was forced to face my Father. I froze in shock, terror and excitement. I could stay with Edward for longer now! But what if it all went wrong and they had no choice but to shoot me?

My Father looked terrified. He obviously thought that they were about to kill me in front of him. I would have thought so too if I hadn't known their plan before hand.

"Let her GO, you have what you want!" my father roared at Jared. I couldn't see Jared as he was behind me, but I could almost see the smile curling its way onto his twisted face.

"Did you _honestly_ think we would just let her go, without you meeting a few more of my demands?" And then Jared laughed a cruel ice cold laugh that made my blood run cold.

My Father signalled, and the security all got their guns out pointing at me and everyone else.

Sam backed towards the Mafia, knowing that the security would never shoot him while he was holding me with a gun pressed at my temple. It was too risky; I could get shot in the process.

But suddenly men came out of the alleyway behind my Father, with guns pointing at them.

Instinctively the guards formed a circle around my dad with their guns pointing outwards to protect the King.

It all looked like we were on a set of a gang movie. But unfortunately we weren't, though the story would make an excellent film. A princess gets kidnapped by mob bosses and tries to escape countless of times, but falls in love with one of her kidnappers. Both families would disapprove of their love, but they try and find a way anyway. But confrontations between both families could end them seeing each other ever again.

By now we had reached the rest of the Mafia, and they were slowly retreating back to the cars. Sam kept the gun at my head until we had rounded the corner out of sight.

My father had dared not follow us, as they were probably still at gunpoint by the other gunmen, and when we were out of sight, I was slung over Sam's shoulder as though I weighed nothing at all and he ran back towards the cars where everyone was meeting.

We got there, seconds after everyone else and Sam set me down on the floor. Jared started barking out orders to where everyone should go. I stood there, relieved that nothing went wrong, until I was told who I was car sharing with.

Just like earlier, I was stuck with Jasper and Edward. It seemed like fate was against me, as I was hoping Edward and I could manage to get a car together.

However, fate had other plans...

Or maybe fate was with me today.

"Jared, I need to stay in Volterra for a while, so Edward and Bella should go back together on, instead of waiting for me. It could be too risky." My heat leapt at this, maybe just maybe...

Jared didn't look too happy with this arrangement but reluctantly agreed.

"If you lose her Edward, I _swear_ that I will rip your head off and then shoot it myself," Jared threatened.

"I won't lose her ever again." Edward promised, glancing at me with a glimmer in his eyes. If you interpreted Edward's words properly, you could take them two ways.

I climbed in the passenger seat next to Edward and we waited until everyone had left.

"Edward, where are we going?"

And he turned to look at me excitement drawn all over his face.

"You'll see." And then we drove away.


	18. Sunrise

**Jasper's ****POV**

I smiled as I saw the car in which Edward and Bella were in rounded the corner, going the complete opposite direction from where they were supposed to be going.

I didn't have a liable reason as to why I let them go. I just guess that they deserved a chance at a life together. Poor Edward had always been the nicest of us all, and even though he used to idolise us all, I was the one who began to envy him these last few weeks, as he had found his true love, his soul mate, his other half. And look at me I'm 20 and I have never had a girlfriend, or even liked anybody enough to have one.

But I wouldn't want anybody to live the way I was right now, so Edward and Bella needed the chance I would never get. Basically in a way, I was living through them. I prayed that I would find someone who would love me the way I am as Bella did for Edward. But considering the way I acted around people, I highly doubted that anything like that would ever happen to me.

With a sigh, I began walking in the general direction of the train station to get back to base.

**Bella's POV**

Edward pulled over to the side of the road. After leaning over into the back seat, he handed me an oversized hoodie and a baseball cap.

"Put these on," he ordered. I knew better than to ask what was going on as I trusted him and did what I was asked.

When I had draped the hoodie over my head, Edward put my seatbelt back on and yet again we were speeding away, trees and buildings, blurring past us.

I recognised the direction we were heading in and a smile spread on my face as I glanced over at Edward.

He turned to look at me and smiled at my unasked question, and I felt the urge to jump up in the air.

"I haven't got a passport though," I said, my excitement washing away like bath water.

Edward reached into his coat pocket and pulled out two passports and two ID cards. I took them from his hands shocked. How did he get mine, when it was hidden in my bedside drawer, in my room at _home?_

But when I saw them I laughed, they were fake passports. I wouldn't have been able to tell if they were apart for the fact that my photo had been edited a bit and I would be travelling as an Isabel Cullen, not Isabella Swan.

I looked up at him, shocked that he managed to get these. Who had he trusted enough to ask to draw these up, Carlisle?

"How on earth did you get these done?"

"It's my speciality," he said and then winked at me. I smiled and looked back down at the ID card.

It would be my new identity.

**Jared's POV**

We arrived back at the base with no interruptions from anyone. Tonight had gone smooth, much smoother than I had expected.

But at least my worries were over. Well for now anyway. Everyone had arrived back around 20 minutes ago, and I was still waiting outside for Edward to return with the girl. I glanced at my watch. Edward had left just a few seconds after the rest of us; he should be here by now!

Frustrated, I stalked back inside to my office. It was far too cold outside to stand in for a considerable amount of time, especially when you had other matters to attend to. When my office was in view, I noticed that the door was left ajar. I frowned, I was sure that I had locked it. I _always_ lock it.

I walked in and everything seemed to be where I had last left it. But as I walked towards my desk, I saw there was one small difference. Lying in the middle of my tidy desk was an envelope addressed to me. And as I got closer, I recognised the handwriting for it was Edwards.

Why would Edward leave me a letter? He could just ask me about something in a few minutes when he arrives...

Frustrated and curious, I tore open the envelope and a scrawled note fell out on a piece of lined paper, which looked like it had come from my notebook. I scowled; I hated it when people went through my private stuff, though I would hardly call my notebook private, it only held useful numbers and meeting places.

I opened the note and quickly scanned it, my anger fighting its way back to the surface.

The note said:

_Jared,_

_Enough is enough. I couldn't just stand back and let you and the others keep on beating up Bella, eventually killing her. So I have taken her away and with any luck I won't see any of you ever again._

_Edward._

"SHIT!" I shouted out and kicked the desk. If I was wearing trainers, that would have seriously hurt my toes, but at the moment I was wearing sturdy boots.

My outburst caused Sam and Emmett to come bursting in the room.

"What's wrong?" They asked simultaneously, but instead on answering I thrust the letter at them. Sam took it and started to read it with Emmett reading over his shoulder, each of their faces screwing up in anger as they realised what Edward had done.

"He is a fucking traitor!" Emmett shouted, chucking the note in the air and then watching it float down onto the ground.

"What are we going to do about him?" Sam growled. I shook my head indicating that I was thinking about that and I would answer him in a minute.

This would cause such a scandal if it got out. One of the soon to be main Mafia members ran off with the Italian Princess. I could almost see it in the headlines now. '_Mob boss and Princess run off to start a new life.'_ We would lose all respect and fear of everyone. It sounded like a joke, two people from completely opposite backgrounds running away together; we would look like we were soft and approve of it.

Unless...

I smiled and answered Sam's question.

"The traitor and his bitch are going to die." The others nodded in approval as I told Emmett to go to the train station, Sam just to drive around to see if he could see them, and I would go to the airport.

Edward Cullen, you are going to die sooner than you think.

**Bella's POV**

We ran into the airport cautiously, peering behind out backs every few seconds as though someone would jump out behind a car and shoot us or take us away. Edward kept trying to reassure me that everything would be okay, but I needed more convincing than that for me to see reason.

The airport was near enough empty apart from a few sleepy people who were lounging on chairs, dozing off while waiting for their flights to begin boarding. Nobody glanced at us as we walked through the waiting area to the check in desk; the man behind the counter looked half asleep himself. When he saw us approaching, he groaned, probably thinking he had to look alert and put on his happy 'I will help you with any problems' face.

"Can I help you?" he said in a forced polite tone, you could tell he hated being stuck with the night shift.

"Yes, I would like two tickets for the next flight to America, I don't care where." Edward said being flawlessly polite as usual. He smiled down reassuringly at me again and I smiled weakly back, even though I was ecstatic that we had the chance to be together.

The man typed into his computer and looked up again.

"The next flight it too New York and it begins boarding in fifteen minutes..."

"We'll take it," said Edward before the poor man even had a chance to finish his sentence. The man gave us some forms to fill out and I put my fake name down, as did Edward. When we handed them back and Edward showed our fake passports he gave us boarding passes and told us to wait in the seating area.

When we sat down, I spoke in whispers so that no one around would be able to eavesdrop.

"I still can't believe you're doing all of this for me," I said, with a tiny hint of shock evident in my voice.

He laughed and put his arm around me pulling me to his side, so that my head was resting on his shoulder.

"Silly Bella," he teased. "I love you, and I don't ever want to lose you again, so of course I would be doing this." He said and then pressed his warm soft lips to my forehead, in which I closed my eyes softly at.

And then for the next fifteen minutes we both sat in silence, the only sound of our breathing, both of us staring at the flight board, willing it to change and say our flight was boarding early.

But the fifteen minutes came and went, and I looked at Edward confused, and he just shrugged not knowing the answer either.

But then the board changed. And it now read

_'Flight 198 to New York has been delayed, and will not be boarding for another 30 minutes.'_

I heard Edward groan next to me, and I immediately sensed that something was not right.

"Edward... What's wrong?" I asked tentivilay, not too sure if I even wanted to know the answer. He looked at me his eyes burning with regret.

"I'm so sorry Bella." He whispered as he put his head in his hands. I put my hand on his back soothing him.

"It's okay, no one knows we are here, thirty minutes won't hurt us."

"But it will though," he said, his voice muffled through his hands.

"What do you mean?" I inquired. I was very confused but with anxiety bubbling in my chest.

"Bella," he said and looked up at me again. "I left Jared a note..." he trailed off at the end.

"What did it say?" I asked, attempting to prompt him on.

"I told him that we were leaving, he would have gotten it by now." He whispered so quiet it was barely audible. But I heard him clear enough. My blood, face and every muscle in my body froze, as I realised what this could mean.

"He might come and get us?" I whispered, fighting back the scream that was threatening to escape from my lips.

"It's possible." He said and when he saw my expression he embraced me in a tight hug. I began to cry softly into his shirt while he leant his head against the top of mine. "But hopefully, he won't get here in time." He said, trying again to reassure me but I could also hear the doubt in his voice, even I knew he could get here fast enough if I wanted too.

"Why did you leave it?" I said my voice muffled by his shirt.

"I don't know." He admitted. "It just seemed the right thing to do at the time. I mean he is my brother after all..." He paused to regard me for a moment and then continued. "But I guess it wasn't the best thing."

I leant back onto my own chair and gripped his hand tightly, in which he squeezed back gently in response.

Again like earlier, I didn't take my eyes of the board; minutes were ticking by, each one of them counting down until our freedom, or until our possible death. When it came to twenty-five minutes, I was practically bouncing in my seat with anticipation.

"Edward," I moaned, and he squeezed my hand again.

"I know, I know," he said soothingly.

But finally the board announced that we were ready for boarding as did a speaker. Edward and I jumped up immediately, but because we were on the other side of the room from the boarding tunnel we had to wait at the back of the small queue.

When we approached the front, the doors on the other side of the small airport burst open. We turned around in shock, to see our most dreaded fear standing there.

Jared.

He scanned the waiting room, looking for us I assumed, and when he finally laid his eyes on us, his face twisted with rage.

"YOU!" He shouted, pointing at Edward and began to start forwards to us. By now we were at the front of the queue and Edward handed our boarding passes over and dragged me through the tunnel.

As we ran halfway down we heard the tunnel doors close behind us and Jared furious voice.

"I NEED to get though there!" He roared.

"I'm sorry sir, but you need a boarding pass, and you appear to have none." Said the attendant's voice, polite, but also sounding stressed. I wouldn't be surprised if he called the police. Jared must've kicked the doors, as a bang erupted throughout the tunnel and then a loud curse.

Edward smiled at me, took my hand as we walked onto the plane.

"Are you okay?" He said.

I breathed out a sigh of relief and answered in a happy voice, which I had never used before.

"Yes, that was a close shave." I said and put my hand to my heart to prove it. Edward laughed and we took our seats.

The plane taxied onto the run way and our hands were gripped tightly on the arm rest between our two seats.

"Don't be scared Bella, we have the rest of our lives together now." He said as though he could see my tension.

"Yes, forever." I agreed as the plane took off into the pink sunrise.


	19. Epilogue

**I did say that the Epilogue would be short, so sorry if I disappointed you on this. I just needed this bit in, it is necessary for the sequel. **

**Anyway thank you all so much for reading this story, it really means a lot to me, so this is dedicated to ALL of you: D**

**The sequel **_**should**_** be up by tomorrow, tonight if I am feeling very inspired :)**

**Epilogue**

**Jared's POV**

I soon realised there was no way that I would be able to get onto that plane by now. So I settled for watching through the window of my car as the plane took off into the air, figuring out what I was going to do about my situation. If word got out that my youngest brother had run off with a subject, I would be a laughing stock. I was known for keeping control and enabling fear. I was blind, I should've seen the signs ages ago.

The only thing I knew was that they were flying to New York. I had no idea if they were staying there, or catching another flight to somewhere else, making it impossible for me to find them.

Or would it?

I got my phone, out as I recalled something. I not only had people working for me here in Italy, but I also had people working for me all over the world, including America and most importantly, including New York.

I flipped it open, dialling a number that I almost forgotten that I had. It wasn't that I didn't like the person, I just never needed business doing in America that I couldn't sort out myself.

He answered on the first ring.

"Hello?" He asked uncertainly, as though he didn't know who I was. Or was he just being expected to be shouted out.

"Hello Billy, its Jared."

"Yes? What can I do for you?" He said still sounding uncertain.

"A flight will be arriving in New York in about seven hours from Volterra. A boy and girl both in their teens should be getting of it; I want you to follow where they go, follow them by car, plane...whatever you want. I just need you to keep a track of them." I said, commanding him, he knew better than to defy me.

"What do they look like?"

"You remember my youngest brother Edward?"

"Yes, I remember him."

"It is him, and the little _Italian Princess." _I sneered; Billy must have seemed surprised by this news.

"What happened?" He asked incredulously.

"There is no time for those now, just get to the airport and wait for their flight to get it. You know what to do." And with that I hung up the phone.

Edward and Bella aren't going to be getting their happy fairytale ending any time soon.

I would make sure of that.

----~~~~----

**I didn't want Edward and Bella, in the epilogue, I thought it would kind of ruin the ending I put in for them last chapter. Sorry if you were looking forward to that**

**Loads of new characters are coming in next story: D so you should all be looking forward to that.**

**The 'Should there be Emmett and Rosalie in the sequel' poll is going to be closed at half past nine GMT. (So I don't know what time that is for everyone else.) So please vote, though I am sure by now what the outcome will be :)**

**Thanks again for reading!!**

**Love you all **

**Xxxxxxxxxxxx**


	20. Sequel Is up! AN

**The Sequel is up !!**

**It is only a short preface but i promise a proper chapter tomorrow night.**

**Remember voting for Emmett and Rosalie end i two hours (GMT)**

**Enjoy the sequel,, and thank you to everyone who reviewed Another Way to Die. I am sad that it has finished.. but it hasn't? If you get me?**

**^_^**

**Love you all**

**xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx**


	21. New and Improved :D

Another way to die has finnally been re-written and improved! So you can all go back and read it if you want too. There aren't any major changes, I just thought it would be nice if you wanted to read it without as many errors in it

:D

- Charlotte

x


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